Live Again
by AmJay5785
Summary: Elizabeth's world fell apart when the love of her life died in a horrible fire. Jason's life came tumbling down when everyone he thought he could trust the most betrayed him. Together they learn to Live Again. Based in Janurary 2000, Liason.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Three minutes.

Just three more minutes and her shift would be over. Elizabeth had never experienced a more grueling day at work than the one she had just had. Ever since she started to work at Kelly's, Elizabeth knew that Fridays were the worst days to work a double. That's why she avoided it. But when Tammy came to her, begging her to take her night shift so she could go on a date with Mike, Elizabeth could do nothing but say yes.

The morning rush had been bad enough. All the dock workers coming in for their breakfast fix, making her run around for refills on their coffee and leaving nothing but a one dollar tip was enough to make a girl go mad. Luckily for Elizabeth, Jason and Sonny came in after the rush died down a bit and left a tip large enough to pay her salary for the week. It was when they came in earlier that day that Jason recognized her flushed faced, unruly hair, and tight features that he knew she would need a ride later that night.

Sighing in content and giving him one of her all famous smiles that lit up a room, Elizabeth was more than happy to take him up on his offer for a late night ride.

It was his promise of the ride that got her through the business lunch rush, with all of the suit jacket types coming in for a quick bite, hoping to finish with their day early. Again, Elizabeth was forced to grin and bear it as customers snapped their fingers, calling her Miss, and demanding to know where their food was that they ordered five minutes ago.

The dinner rush proved to be the worst part of the day. At least during breakfast and lunch, the parties were small. But at dinner, the whole family came to make her day that much more miserable. Instead of running around for coffee refills, or trying to put a rush order on a meal, she was too busy carrying around a mop cleaning up the continuous spills coming from table five, running into the back to receive the fifth spoon table eight needed because their little bundle of joy kept throwing his applesauce filled spoon across the diner, and playing personal referee for table threes twins who were in the middle of a food fight.

Three minutes could not come fast enough.

Not only was she stuck at Kelly's the whole day, with nothing but a late night ride with Jason on her mind, but now she was stuck closing the diner by herself. Usually the peace and quiet would have been enough to make her want to close the diner by herself. But after the bomb in her studio on New Year's Eve, and Sorel approaching her on the docks two nights before, the silence was enough to scare her.

One minute to go.

Gathering all of the garbage bags that the new busboy forgot to take out, Elizabeth made her way to the back of the diner. The second the cool night air hit her, she wanted to run back inside and get her leather jacket. Not wanting to add more time to her stay at the diner for the night, Elizabeth decided against turning around and retrieving her jacket and walked the few feet to the dumpster. Freezing her butt off along the way.

Just as the last bag was thrown into the dumpster, Elizabeth heard the approach of footsteps. Her instincts told her to rush back inside, forget she heard the footsteps, close up and leave. But her body, the one that remained stuck in place, refused to follow with what her mind was screaming. Instead of moving towards the back door that would bring her back into the warmth of Kelly's, she moved behind the dumpster, hoping to hide from the source of the footsteps.

Wrapping her arms securely around herself, hoping her body would stop shaking, Elizabeth ears perked up as she heard a second set of footsteps approach and voices come from the exact spot she was just standing in moments ago.

"The boss just called. There was a change in plans."

"What?"

"He's not meeting us here. Apparently back alleys are not a good place to conduct business." He paused, but when he continued, Elizabeth could hear the smile in his voice, "Not this business anyway."

"Did he tell you why we had to come all the way to Port Charles?"

"Nothing specific, he just said that the family is moving here, and he has his sights on bringing down Corinthos and Morgan so he needed us to come as well."

At the mention of her friends, Elizabeth became increasingly alert. She knew that Jason and Sonny had enemies, she knew that first hand. But according to the men, they were new to Port Charles, as was their boss. Elizabeth couldn't help but wonder if Jason and Sonny were aware of the newest threat.

"Alright, let's go."

Knowing that this was her chance to see the men before they left, Elizabeth poked her head from behind the dumpster just in time to see the men's faces before they turned around. Jason would kill her once he found out that she was that close to the men, but it wasn't her fault. He couldn't get mad at her for putting the trash out and having no choice but to hide and listen. He just better not try to pull his noble crap again and distance himself from her. Those couple of days without him was enough to make Elizabeth realize that she wanted, no, needed him in her life.

Once the men were gone, Elizabeth headed back into Kelly's to close up for the night and head over to Jakes. Jason was supposed to meet her there so he could take her on that ride. She just hoped her news of the events that just occurred wouldn't ruin the night.

Maybe she would tell him after the ride.

* * *

Jason picked up the phone and dialed the number again. After the fifth ring he hung up. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he picked up the phone and dialed another number.

"_Jakes?"_

"Jake, its Jason."

"_Hey sweetie what can I do for you?"_

"Elizabeth is supposed to meet me there but I can't make it. Could you pass a message along for me?"

"_Sure."_

"Ah, just tell her to meet me at my penthouse instead."

"_Will do, anything else?"_

"No. Thanks."

"_Anytime sweetie."_

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Jason let out one of his trademark sighs. He really hoped that he could have reach Elizabeth before she left Kelly's. He was supposed to be at Jakes hours ago, but trouble at the warehouse stalled him. He didn't like the idea of her being at Jakes by herself. That afternoon when he saw her, she looked like she could use a ride, so he had offered. His intentions were to pick her up, but she insisted on meeting him at Jakes since he would already be there. Now she was going to have to travel there by herself, and then travel to his penthouse alone.

Putting on his leather jacket, Jason left the warehouse and mounted onto his bike. The sooner he got to his penthouse, the sooner he could call Jakes and see if Elizabeth had gotten there yet.

She really needed a cell phone.

* * *

Walking into Jakes, Elizabeth couldn't help but smile. The last time she walked through the front doors of Jakes it was the same night that she started her friendship with Jason. The place really suited him. Not that there was a lot that Jason needed, but just one look at Jakes and she could tell that Jason fit right in. She was starting to get the feeling that she fit right in as well.

As she scanned the bar she didn't see Jason anywhere. Thinking he might be in the restroom or running late, Elizabeth made her way to the bar to take a seat. After she ordered her club soda, she scanned the bar again, hoping to get a glimpse of Jason. As her eyes fell on the back booth, they stopped moving. She knew she should look away, but the men sitting there looked familiar. Trying to think of where she saw them, she remembered. They were the men in the alley behind Kelly's.

Looking away once one of the men made eye contact with her, Elizabeth hoped that she didn't draw too much attention to herself. Hoping off of the stool to walk towards the jukebox, she was stopped when someone called out her name.

"Elizabeth!"

Turning around, Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief when she noticed Jake coming towards her. "Hey Jake."

"Hey sweetie, I have a message for you. Jason isn't going to make it here; he said to meet him at his penthouse."

Biting down on her lower lip, Elizabeth had to think. She wanted Jason to come to Jakes so that she could show him the two men that were talking in the back alley. It would most likely ruin their ride, but at least he would be able to see who may be a new enemy. "Jake, can I use your phone?"

"Sure thing." Turning around, Jake waved her hand to have Elizabeth follow. Once they were in the back office, away from the loud music and drunks, Elizabeth smiled her thanks. After receiving no answer from his cell phone, Elizabeth tried the penthouse. Hanging up the phone after reaching his answering machine, Elizabeth sighed in defeat. She would just have to go to his penthouse and give him the best description of the men that she could.

She could always draw him a picture. She was an artist after all.

Walking out of the office and towards the front door, Elizabeth took one last look at the two men. They were both big men, sticking out in the bar wearing suits. One man had blonde hair and a crocked nose. His face was very angular, coming to a point at his chin. His blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail at the base of his neck. The other man had black hair that was slicked back, making him appear greasy. His face was not as defined as the blonde, but she could tell that the man could break her in half with a flick of his wrist.

Her attention was so focused on the men sitting at the back table that she didn't realize she was heading straight into another person until she bummed right into him.

"Oh, I am so sorry." Placing her hands on the chest of the man who she just ran into, Elizabeth looked up and her blue eyes locked with soft brown eyes.

The man's hands were on her waist, steadying her, and he was looking down at her with a warm smile on his face. "It's ok; I wasn't looking where I was going." He was a very good looking man. He had soft brown eyes and a face just as soft. His hair was frosted with blonde highlights, but Elizabeth could tell his natural color was a soft brown that matched his eyes.

Removing herself from his arms, Elizabeth went to tuck a curl behind her ear out of habit. Since her hair was piled on top of her head with curls spilling out, the only thing she tucked behind her ear was air. "I wasn't looking either, I'm sorry."

Sticking his hand out in greeting the man introduced himself "My name's Sebastian."

Feeling a little more at ease, Elizabeth slipped her hand into his and smiled "Elizabeth."

Holding onto her hand a little longer than necessary, Sebastian gazed into her blue eyes before releasing her hand and placing his in the pockets of his black slacks "It's nice to meet you Elizabeth." Shrugging his shoulders and looking towards the door behind him Sebastian asked "Were you just leaving?"

As if realizing that she was staring at him, Elizabeth looked towards the door "Actually, yes, I have to go meet a friend." She could see the disappointment appear in his eyes at her answer. She didn't know why, but she felt like she had to keep the conversation going, "Are you new to town? I haven't seen you around."

Replacing his frown with a smile Sebastian walked over to the bar out of the traffic of the entrance, "Yeah, I just got here yesterday. My family moved here from Philadelphia."

Following behind him, Elizabeth looked at the door while biting down on her lower lip. Five minutes wouldn't hurt. "Well, Port Charles is a small place. You'll find your way around in no time."

"Is everyone in this town as nice and beautiful as you?"

Blushing under his warm gaze, Elizabeth tried to tuck an invisible curl behind her ear again as she looked away. "I should get going, my friend is waiting."

Sitting down on the bar stool, Sebastian looked at the beautiful young woman standing in front of him and knew that he had to see her again. There was something about Elizabeth that caught his eye. "It was nice to meet you Elizabeth. I hope to see you again."

"You too, bye." As she turned to walk away, Sebastian's loose grip on her arm stopped her.

"Will I see you again?" He looked hopeful. Elizabeth could usually tell when something wasn't right, but with Sebastian, she didn't feel that. She wasn't completely at ease with him, he was a total stranger. But there was something in his soft brown eyes that put her at ease. Anyway, he was just doing some shameless flirting.

Forming her full lips into a soft smile, Elizabeth looked back at the door and then locked eyes with him, "I work at a diner called Kelly's. If you want to stop by for coffee, I should be there."

Returning her soft smile with one of his own, Sebastian nodded his head once, never breaking eye contact, "I'll do that."

With one last smile she turned around and walked out the door, feeling his eyes on her retreating form the entire way.

Once she was out of the door, Sebastian ordered his drink and walked to the back of the room where two men were waiting for him.

* * *

It had been twenty minutes since he called Jakes once he walked into his penthouse. She told him that she saw Elizabeth and gave her his message. He cursed his luck when she told him that Elizabeth tried to call him minutes before he called Jakes.

Growing frustrated after looking at his watch again, Jason put on his leather jacket and opened up his door intent on finding Elizabeth, she should have been there by now. Walking towards the elevator, Jason was about to punch the button when the doors opened.

"Jason, hey," looking at him with confusion, Elizabeth asked "Where you leaving? I thought I was supposed to meet you here."

"I was going to find you."

"Oh."

Standing in the hallway looking at each other, an uncomfortable silence fell upon them. "You still want to go for a ride?"

Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, Elizabeth looked at the ground before locking eyes with Jason. "Yes. But I have to tell you something first."

Looking into her eyes, Jason could tell that she had to tell him something important. He was growing nervous with her biting on her lip. Something was really eating away at her. "Ok, let's go inside."

Following behind Jason, Elizabeth walked past him as he held the door open for her. "Are you okay?"

Turning around to look at him as he closed the door, she could see the worry on his face and she felt horrible for making him worry about her. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that I have to tell you something, and you can't get mad at me. I had no control over the situation and I swear, if you try to not be my friend again, I might just scream."

Moving closer to her, Jason became even more worried. She was talking a mile a minute, swiping non-existent hair out of her face, and she was worried that what she told him would make him mad. Something happened and Jason just wanted to know what. "Elizabeth, what happened?"

"I overheard something when I was taking the trash out tonight."

Raising his eyebrows to prompt her to continue Jason asked "And?"

Letting out a breath of air that bordered on a huff of annoyance, Elizabeth crossed her arms under her chest, making the leather of her jacket creak. "I overheard two men. They were supposed to meet their boss there, but he called one of them and changed the meeting place. They said that they were new to town, and that their boss has plans to take you and Sonny down."

Great, another threat to add on to the list of enemies trying to take him and Sonny down, just what he needed. Jason wasn't happy with the fact that Elizabeth was giving him this new information, but it was her next words that made him stand straighter. "When they were leaving, I looked around the dumpster and got a glimpse of their faces-"

"You what?"

"I looked to see who they were. It's a good thing-"

"A good thing? Elizabeth did these men see you?"

"No, but-"

Moving closer to her Jason grabbed her shoulders in a loose grip. "Do you know what could have happened if they saw you? Elizabeth, you should not have been there."

Stomping her foot in annoyance, Elizabeth pulled away from the infuriating man. "It's not like I planned it Jason. I had to take the trash out, and I heard footsteps, I freaked and hid behind the dumpster. But listen, it's a good thing that I saw them because when I went to Jakes, they were there and I got a better look at them."

"A better look? These men are probably very dangerous Elizabeth. You shouldn't be getting better looks at them. You should be staying away from them."

Narrowing her eyes as she looked at him, she couldn't believe her ears. "You are making it sound like I followed them! I went to Jakes to meet you Jason, it just so happens that they were there."

"That's right; you were there to meet me, maybe-"

Dropping her arms in frustration, Elizabeth closed her eyes and let out an un-ladylike grunt. "Oh no you don't, do not try this again Jason. I thought we were over this. You staying away from me is not an option. I wasn't in any danger tonight because of you. I wasn't in any danger at all."

Softening his features at her reluctance to loose his friendship, Jason tried to reason with her. "I'm not… I'm not going to end our friendship again. But you were in danger tonight. If those men would have seen you, you might not have been able to warn me about them."

Stepping closer to him, Elizabeth's features softened as well. "I know that Jason, that's why I hid. The first thing I thought of was finding you and telling you about it. Just like you told me I should if anything like that happened." Laughing slightly she continued, "Well I did think about telling you after our ride, I didn't want this to ruin it."

Smiling at her love for his bike, Jason hated to break the ease of the conversation, but he had to ask one more time. "Are you sure they didn't see you."

"In the alley, no I am positive they didn't see me. But one of them did look at me at Jakes." Seeing him tense again Elizabeth tried to reassure him "It wasn't anything big, I was just looking for you and then I recognized them and one of them looked up and our eyes locked for a second. He wasn't suspicious at all."

"Men like that are always suspicious Elizabeth."

"Come one Jason, I was just another person at the bar to him."

Not liking the situation at all, but knowing that there was nothing he could do at the moment; Jason decided to move from the topic, making a mental note to talk to Sonny about it in the morning. "You ready for that ride yet?"

Her smile that she gave him could have lit up the sky on a starless night. "Can I steer?"

"No."

Walking out the door and onto the elevator Elizabeth looked at him like a wounded puppy, "But you said I could steer anytime."

"I lied."

As the doors closed, Elizabeth's laughter could be heard all the way into Sonny's penthouse, "I thought you didn't lie."

Letting out his husky laugh that didn't reach the volume of hers Jason answered "I lied."

* * *

The ride to The Brownstone was not as long as Elizabeth would have liked it. Usually they could ride for hours, but with the mix up and the conversation they had at Jason's, it was becoming late, and she had to work the next morning. Coming to a stop in front of the building, Elizabeth could not contain her laughter. Removing his arms from around her, Jason turned the bike off after she dismounted.

"I forgot how much fun it was being the one in control."

Not wanting to remove the smile from her face, Jason decided to keep the little information that although she sat in front, it was his body weight and his hands that controlled the bike, to himself. "You did great."

"Thank you so much for the ride. You have no idea how much I needed it. The day I had just kept getting worse as it went on. The only thing getting me through it was the fact that I knew you were going to take me out."

Nodding his head just once, Jason let a smirk play across his lips knowing that she meant every word. "Anytime."

"Will I see you tomorrow? I mean, are you going to stop by Kelly's?"

"Yes, I'll stop by. I have to work tomorrow, so I'll be by for lunch."

His answer brought a smile to her face. Jason was a big part of her life, and any time she got to spend with him made her feel better. She missed living with him. Their time together during Christmas made her realize how much Jason meant to her. "Ok, I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Waiting for her to ascend the steps of The Brownstone and enter through the door, Jason made sure he heard the click of the deadbolt before he pulled away. Once he returned to the garage of The Harborview Towers, he pulled out his cell phone. On the second ring, the other person answered his phone.

"O'Brien."

"It's Jason. I need you to look after someone for me."

"Who?"

"Elizabeth Webber. But she can't know that you are there. You will be her shadow until I say otherwise."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The morning came all too soon for Elizabeth. Bringing a pillow to her face to shield out the rising sun, she groaned as the buzzing of her alarm clock continued to blare, letting her know that it was time to start her day and prepare for another eventful shift at Kelly's. Throwing the pillow away from her face, Elizabeth blindly reached over to her alarm clock with all intentions of pressing the snooze button granting her with at least seven more minutes of sleep. Blinking rapidly once she opened her eyes in an attempt to locate the snooze button her eyes opened wide once she realized she only had half an hour to get ready for work.

Shutting her alarm clock off, she crawled out of bed grumbling the entire way to her closet. Her eyes were still squinted with all remnants of sleep still visible and her movements were groggy to say the least. After pulling out a caramel v-neck sweater with a hood, a pair of dark jeans, and her leather boots, she changed but still wanting to crawl back into bed and sleep her day away.

She brought her hands to her eyes and tried to rub away the last bit of sleep hovering over her. She walked down the stairs of The Brownstone and made her way into the kitchen. She peered at the clock above the stove, groaned once she saw the time and turned right back around to head for the front door. Opening the closet door, she pulled out the leather jacket Jason gave her and headed to work.

When she walked through the front doors of Kelly's the bell above the door chimed. The walk in the cold weather was the final straw in waking her up fully. Once she stepped foot into Kelly's all grumpiness and wishes of her bed were left outside in the cold.

"Hey Tammy."

"Hey sweetie, how are you this morning?"

Pulling her leather jacket off, she tugged at the bottom of her caramel sweater as she swept her curly hair out of her face, "Oh, I've been better. For some reason I just did not want to get out of bed this morning."

Placing a hand on the younger woman's shoulder, Tammy gave Elizabeth an apologetic smile, "Well, I'd tell you to go home and rest, but it is just you and me this morning and I am going to need all the help I can get.

"Don't worry about it. I'm already here and I couldn't go back to sleep if I went home."

The morning rush kept Tammy and Elizabeth busy for the better half of the morning. Customer after customer trailed in for their morning coffee and scrambled eggs as the two woman split the diner in half, giving the term multitasking a new meaning. The rush died down and when Elizabeth looked at the clock a smile spread across her face and a sigh escaped her lips when she realized she only had one hour left until she could go home. Bobbie had been great with letting her stay at The Brownstone for free. The cops still had her studio under lock down so she wasn't allowed back. Her fingers were itching to paint and when she asked Bobbie if she could set something up in her room; the woman was more than happy to let Elizabeth use the sunroom in the back of the townhouse as a temporary studio. So far she had no time to work on any painting, but her day was free after work was over and she was looking forward to putting the finishing touches on "The Wind."

She was wiping down the counter with her attention focused on her thoughts that she didn't hear the bell above the door ring. Tammy finally brought her out of her own world when she told Elizabeth that she had a customer. Elizabeth looked up, but before her eyes landed on the single customer in her section she noticed a man lingering outside. All morning she thought she saw a man standing outside, but the diner was so busy that she didn't think anything more of it.

The man turned around and when their eyes locked his widened as he turned around and began to walk out of the courtyard. Her face scrunched in confusion as she walked from behind the counter on her way to the entrance. Elizabeth couldn't help but wonder what the hell he was doing lurking outside. She didn't know the man all that well, but she thought that it was pretty rude of Johnny to see her and then walk away without as much as a hello. She neared the front doors and wondered what he was doing lurking outside. She didn't see Sonny or Jason around, and the only time she saw Johnny was when he was with the two. That and when he came to Kelly's every so often to order a cup of hot chocolate claiming that no other place made it better. He even made her swear that she wouldn't tell Sonny or Jason about his ordering hot chocolate. He claimed it made him look soft and he had a reputation to protect.

Elizabeth was about to open the door when a voice called out from behind her.

"What? Are you just going to walk past me without a hello?"

She turned around and let an easy smile grace her face as she found Sebastian looking back at her. In her haste to find out why Johnny was standing outside without ordering anything or saying hello, she had forgotten there was a customer. All thoughts of talking to Johnny forgotten, Elizabeth made her way towards Sebastian's table. "Sorry, I thought I saw someone I knew." Her hands found the back of the chair sitting across from Sebastian as she smiled down at him, "I wasn't expecting to see you so soon. Did you have any trouble finding this place?"

His smile was a little brighter than the one she displayed. Looking into her blue eyes, he shrugged one shoulder and pulled on his blue tie as he shook his head, "Nah, I found it just fine."

Once the silence spilled over them she licked her lips nervously and stood up straighter. "That's good. What can I get for you?"

After he placed his order she smiled at him sweetly and was about to walk away when he gently grabbed a hold of her hand. She looked down at their connected hands and then back up to lock her blue eyes with his brown ones. He looked a little nervous as he contemplated as to whether or not he should speak up.

Sensing his uneasiness, she tucked a curl behind her ear and smiled at him raising an eyebrow encouraging him to continue. He let go of her hand and used his other to smooth down his tie once more. "I was ah… I was wondering if you aren't busy tonight, if you would have dinner with me." When her eyes widened at his request he quickly continued, "I haven't met anyone except for you yet, and since I am new I don't know my way around that much. I was hoping you could show me around, tell me where everything is, and as a thank you I could take you out to dinner."

Her cheeks began to warm with her embarrassment. Sebastian might not have been stating it, but it sounded like he was asking her out on a date. Ducking her head, Elizabeth twisted her hands in her apron as she tried to hide her uneasiness. He seemed like a very nice guy. He was good looking and he seemed like he would be nice company. But something low in her gut twisted. She hadn't been on a date since the last night Lucky was alive. And before Lucky, she had never been on a date. She had dinner with Jason plenty of times, but that was different. He was Jason, her best friend, the only person she could be herself with. But Lucky was her first love and she didn't think she was ready to date again. Her eyes met the hopeful brown ones of Sebastian and she knew that she was not ready to take that step yet.

"I don't think that is such a good idea." His small hopeful smile fell and his eyes dimmed at her rejection.

She walked back towards the counter and tried her hardest to ignore the questioning look Tammy gave her. She finally had enough of the older woman's eyes following every move she made as she filled Sebastian's order and straightened the counter. "What?"

Tammy raised her hands in a mock surrender at the tone of Elizabeth's voice, "Nothing, never mind."

"What Tammy? Just say it."

Dropping her arms, she walked closer to Elizabeth and kept her voice down making sure the lone customer would not hear their conversation. "I'm just trying to figure out why you said no to that boy." She held up her hand silencing Elizabeth when the young girl tried to interrupt. "He seems like a very nice young man, and he is very easy on the eyes. I know… I know it has got to be hard for you to think about seeing someone other than Lucky. But honey" she lifter her hands to cup Elizabeth's face when she saw the tears in the young girls eyes, "you need to have some sort of life. You do not have to fall in love with that young man, he is just asking for you to show him around. No harm can come out of that."

She dropped her hands and handed Elizabeth a napkin as she smiled and continued, "You never know, you might actually have a good time."

Wiping away the few tears that spilled from her eyes, Elizabeth smiled at the older woman and asked with mock anger, "What do you mean I need to have a life? I have a life."

Placing her hands on her hips, Tammy tipped her head to the side, "Working all day, painting, and ridding on the back of Jason Morgan's motorcycle is not considered a life."

Her shoulders dropped as she ducked her head and mumbled something making Tammy question what she said. She looked towards the ceiling and closed her eyes as she rushed out her sentence. "I said he lets me drive sometimes." At the sound of the other woman's disapproval, Elizabeth quickly added. "Alright, alright, I get your point. It's just hard you know. I still miss Lucky so much and I don't know if I am ready to go on a date with someone else. Jason has been so great to me and we have grown so close when he stayed in my studio. I know I can't spend the rest of my life on the back of his motorcycle, but it helps you know. For those couple of hours we are ridding, I don't think about anything. Not even Lucky."

Tammy's face softened as she ran her hands through Elizabeth's hair in a motherly jester, "Awe honey, I know it has got to be hard for you." She pulled Elizabeth into a quick hug and patted her on the back. "Just think about it ok?"

Nodding her head, Elizabeth pulled away when the cook called her name signaling that Sebastian's order was ready. She picked up his plate and walked back towards his table breathing in a gulp of oxygen. Smiling as she placed the plate in front of him, she took in his hunched shoulders. "Can I get you anything else?"

When he did nothing but give a shake of his head telling her no, she began to walk away before she hesitated. "Sebastian?"

He looked up at her just as he placed a fork full of eggs into his mouth "hmm?"

"Is that offer for dinner still available?"

He swallowed quickly and wiped his mouth with his napkin that was across his lap. "Yeah, of course." His easy smile returned and Elizabeth let hers match the brightness of his. Maybe Tammy was right, she might actually enjoy herself.

* * *

"What the hell is going on?"

Jason turned around at the sound of an irate Sonny storming towards the chaos that surrounded him. When Jason arrived at the warehouse in the early morning hours something did not seem right. Everything seemed perfect, too perfect. The new shipment of coffee that morning came right on schedule, with nothing wrong with it. In his business, that just did not seem right. Going with his gut feeling, Jason called the foreman into his office and told him to gather every man and open every crate of coffee.

And that was the scene Sonny had just walked in on. All of his men were searching through each crate of coffee as men shouted orders left and right. The sound of wood splintering and shouting ended the reply on Jason's lips. Walking over to the last crate that the men opened, Jason and Sonny were greeted with the sight of white bags in the shape of bricks. Wordlessly, Jason pulled out his pocket knife, flipped it open with the flick of his wrist, and pressed the sharp edge into the white bag. When he slit it open, white powder began to spill through the torn package.

Fingering the white powder, Jason turned his steely eyes towards Sonny and lifted the bag for his inspection.

"Damn it! How the hell did this get in there?"

Jason dropped the bag back into the crate and gripped the edge so hard his knuckles began to turn white. He shook his head stiffly, pursed his lips, and then raised his head to look at his partner. "I don't know."

Standing straight and crossing his arms over his chest, Jason turned to look at the morning's foreman, "Get a sample of this and turn it over to Francis. Tell him to have our guys run it through the system. Get rid of the rest of this before Taggert and his men come in here." He then turned around and addressed the other men who were waiting for his order, "Clean up all of this wood. Put everything back to normal, if the cops have been called, we want everything to look normal."

With a nod of his head signaling the men to get moving, Jason turned around without another word and headed towards the back offices. Passing his own office the two men entered Sonny's. It was only twelve o'clock in the afternoon and Sonny was already heading over to his wet bar, pouring himself a class of amber liquid. "Do we know who did this?"

Jason's hands were placed on his hips under his leather jacket as he shook he head no and let out a long breath of frustrated air.

Sonny swallowed his glass in one swig and was in the process of pouring another glass when Francis' knocked on the door popping his head in through the small opening. "Sorry to disturb you."

Both Jason and Sonny shook their heads prompting Francis to enter the office all the way. When he walked through the door and shut it behind him, both men noticed the manila envelope that he carried. "I was out on my way to the lab when I saw this at the front of the warehouse lying on the ground." He handed the envelope to Jason and when he noticed the skepticism on the men's faces he eased their fears, "It's just a paper. I didn't read it but I checked it"

Francis let himself out of the office with a tip of his head at both men. Jason slowly opened the envelope and let the one piece of paper slid out of it and into his hand. Dropping the envelope, he held the piece of paper in his left hand as his right hand cupped his cheek. "There's a new family in town. Hope you enjoyed your present." Jason's eyebrows scrunched in confusion as he read the last line of the paper, "Next time we won't be so nice."

His head shook just once as he read the three lines over again. Sonny had his hands on his hips and he was looking towards the floor when Jason voice caused him to look up. "What the hell is this?" Flinging the note onto the desk Jason looked at Sonny with amusement behind his eyes. Pointing to the paper on the desk he asked, "That is supposed to scare us? They think that by putting drugs in our shipment and sending a threatening letter to us, that it is going to, what?" Shrugging his shoulders and placing his hands on his hips Jason continued, "Scare us?"

He couldn't wrap his mind around it. That had to be one of the most ridiculous threats he had ever received in the past three years he worked for Sonny.

"Do we know who this family is?"

"No, I haven't heard anything."

Accepting Jason's answer, Sonny reached for his phone when it began to ring, "Yeah?"

Jason looked on as Sonny nodded his head listening to who ever was on the other end. He looked at his best friend's appearance and couldn't help the disappointment that crawled into him. Although Jason had seen him worse, Sonny had looked like he was turning into himself again. Jason knew the older man still hated himself for sleeping with Carly, and for awhile Jason wondered if he hated the man also. But as time went on, and he moved past the pain of knowing that his two best friends betrayed him, Jason realized that they did him a favor. He would always love Carly in a way that he could love no other. But he wasn't in love with her. It hurt that she slept with Sonny to hurt him, but Jason had truly moved on. He forgave the both of them and just wished that they would be able to forgive themselves.

"Alright Benny, thanks." Hearing Sonny end his conversation with Benny, Jason raised his eyebrows in question, knowing by the look on Sonny's face that he had information on the new family. "Looks like a family named the McGinley's just moved to Port Charles from Philadelphia. They also just bought pier fifty-two out from under us."

"Shit." Pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, Jason looked at his boss with a cold expression behind his steely blue eyes. "What do you want to do?"

"We have to let them know that this is our territory." Sonny walked back over to his wet bar pouring himself another drink. "We let them know that we wont tolerate them coming to our town, placing drugs in our shipments, and" sucking his teeth before he turned his brown eyes toward Jason, "fucking with our territory."

Jason understood the meaning behind Sonny's words all to well. "Alright, I'll call Alberto and have him set it up."

"Good. Make sure you are seen by people tonight. We don't need Taggert breathing down our necks. Why don't you call Elizabeth-"

"No, I don't feel right using her as an alibi."

"Where you going to see her tonight before this happened?"

"Yes."

"Then you're not using her."

Sighing, Jason nodded his head as he glanced down at his watch. "I have to go. You have somewhere to be tonight?"

"Yeah"

"Alright." Tipping his head towards his best friend, Jason walked out of Sonny's office wondering if his best friend was ever going to forgive himself.

* * *

When he entered the diner, the smile that appeared on her face stirred something within him. Knowing that just his presence made Elizabeth smile so bright made Jason feel something that he couldn't describe.

"Hey. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to come in today. I know you said that you would stop by last night when you dropped me off at The Brownstone, but as the day went on, I thought that maybe you gotten held up or something."

"Sorry. I had to take care of coffee business at the warehouse."

Waving off his apology, Elizabeth flipped his coffee cup over and filled it with the hot liquid. "It's ok. I figured something happened. You're lucky though, I only have about twenty more minutes left of my shift."

His gaze swept the diner and when he realized that he was the only customer, Jason waved his hand towards the empty seat at his table and gestured her to sit down. "Can you sit down?"

She turned around to see if Tammy wouldn't mind but the older woman was already ahead of her. "Go ahead Elizabeth; you're off for the day." When the younger woman beamed up at her as she began to rip her apron off Tammy asked, "What can I get for the two of you?"

Tammy walked into the back kitchen after they placed their order leaving Elizabeth and Jason sitting alone in the diner at their table. "You look tired Jason, is everything ok?"

Actually, he was tired. He spent the previous night tailing Sorel around after he dropped Elizabeth off, and after only two hours of sleep, he found himself at the warehouse dealing with their newest threat. Jason was used to only a few hours of sleep here and there. Normally he didn't need that much sleep. But when he woke up earlier, he wanted to go back to sleep for a few more hours. But instead of granting his body the sleep it needed, he rolled out of bed and headed over to the warehouse. "I'm fine."

When she tipped her head to the side, pursed her lips in her stubborn pout and raised her perfectly shaped eyebrows he added, "I'm a little tired, but I'm fine." Clearing his throat, he jutted his chin towards her, "Do you want to go for a ride tonight. I found this old property that has all of these statues-"

"Actually, I… I can't go for a ride tonight."

"Oh."

She twisted her hands together on top of the table and began to stare at them as if they were the most interesting things in the world. "I kind of have a… date tonight." Her eyes were still downcast making her miss the split second where Jason's eyes opened wide. When she lifted just her eyes to gauge his reaction, his face had returned to normal.

"A date?"

"Yes and no. I'm doing someone a favor, and as a thank you he is taking me to dinner."

He was studying her and it began to make her uneasy. He had his head tipped to the side and his eyes were squinted slightly as he peered at her. She cleared her thought and fidgeted in her chair ready to break the silence but his voice beat her to it.

"Are you ok with it? I mean, going on a date?"

His voice had taken on the softness that it usually held when he talked to her. She knew what he meant by the question. He wanted to know if she was ready to go on a date, to take steps that would really begin the process of moving on from Lucky. "At first, when he asked me to go to dinner with him, I was sure that I didn't want to go. But I talked to Tammy, and I guess I'll never know if I'm ready if I don't try. I will always love Lucky and I will always miss him more than anything. But… I don't know."

"Do you not want to go?"

"I do." Her voice hitched just the slightest signaling her uncertainty. Their eyes locked and she knew that she didn't have to hold anything back. She was talking to Jason. "I honestly don't know. How can I go on a date with someone? Does that mean that I am moving on from Lucky, am I loosing my love for him?" Tears were clouding her eyesight making Jason appear blurry. Her voice was thick with the tears she did not want to spill free. "I know that Lucky is gone and will never come back, but he is the love of my life. Am I betraying his memory in some sort of way by going on a date with Sebastian?"

So that was the guy's name. For some reason when Elizabeth told him she had a date, some feeling he could not describe found its way to him. But that feeling vanished the second he sensed that she was having a personal battle with herself over whether or not she was betraying Lucky's memory. He did the only thing he could do for her, he listened. Although just listening made him feel like he wasn't really doing anything, she made him feel like him listening to her was the best thing anyone could do for her. She would always thank him for letting her ramble off to him and her smile would be so bright that he would always make a promise to himself that he would listen to her anytime she wanted just to make sure that smile appeared again.

But now that he knew the guys name, that feeling returned again. It wasn't an overbearing feeling. Something that washed over all of his senses, but it was an uncomfortable feeling. Something he knew he didn't like. Maybe it was the protector in him that didn't like the fact that some guy he did not know was going to be taking Elizabeth out. He felt that way with any boy that went out with Emily. But the only difference was that Emily was his sister, and he did not think of Elizabeth in a sisterly manner.

"Do you think Lucky would want you to be alone?"

"No. He would want me to be happy."

"Are you happy?"

"I'm… I think I am finally starting to get there. Thank you Jason."

He would have said that he didn't do anything and she had no reason to thank him. But the smile she gave him with her words of gratitude cut the words right out of his throat.

Tammy delivered their food and they ate mostly in silence. Every once in a while she would ask him a question or begin to ramble on about a painting she had in mind. He described the ruins that he found and wanted to show her. She wanted to see it more than anything, especially the statues he mentioned. Towards the end of their lunch, they made plans to go to the ruins the next night.

Elizabeth looked down at her watch and almost jumped out of her seat when she noticed the time. "Oh my god, I have to go." She opened her purse ready to pull out money to pay for her bill when Jason's hand on top of hers stopped her.

"It's ok, I have it."

Knowing better than to argue with him, Elizabeth stood up from her chair. Before she even gave it a second thought she reached down once she came to his side, gave him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for lunch and for everything."

His hand reached out for hers letting his thumb move back and forth. "I still owe you for all the soup you fed me." His face displayed a boyish grin that brought heat to her cheeks. But when she squeezed his hand and bent down to hug him once more the grin slipped from his face.

"You don't owe me anything."

Before he could reply to the words she whispered in his ear, she slipped out of his arms and hurried towards the door. He turned around to watch her leave and let his frown escape from his face once he saw Johnny follow her in the shadows.

Pulling his cell phone out of his jacket pocket, he dialed and then listened as it rang three times before he answered.

"Sonny, it's me."

* * *

"Ms Webber. Please come in."

"Reginald, you really have to drop the formalities. How many times do I have to tell you to call me Elizabeth?"

"Only every other greeting Elizabeth, besides you know I have to be formal when Edward is lurking around."

"I heard that Reginald!"

Winking at the young woman, Reginald turned around before he had to face off with the old man of the house. "I'll just let Emily know you are here."

"Thank you."

Moments later Elizabeth was greeted with the sound of Emily bounding down the stairs towards her. Turning to prepare for the attack Emily was about to bestow upon her, Elizabeth opened her arms and let her smile match the brightness of her best friends as they hugged.

"Hey! I wasn't expecting you today. It's so good to see you. What are you doing here? Oh you know what, don't answer that yet. Let's go upstairs before Carly comes home and starts running her mouth off."

Wordlessly the girls bounded up the stairs, rushing to make it to Emily's room before any member of the family saw the two. Elizabeth shut the door once they were both inside Emily's room and prepared herself for the onslaught of questions she knew were about to come.

"Not that I don't love a surprise visit from my best friend but what brings you by?"

Sucking in as much air as she could, Elizabeth let it all out in one breath, closed her eyes tightly, and spit the words out as if they were burning her mouth awaiting release.

"I have a date tonight and I have no idea what to wear."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

When the door swung open without announcement, Sonny finished adding his signature to one more document before he stood from his dining room table and made his way to his wet bar. Pouring one glass of his most expensive Brandy, Sonny lifted the drink to Jason in offer. When the younger man shook his head declining the drink, Sonny recapped the crystal decanter and took a noisy sip.

"You wanna tell me why you're here and not with Elizabeth?"

Sonny watched as Jason sighed and shook his head, showing an obvious sign that he really didn't want to talk about it. Sonny had been surprised when he got the call from Jason earlier that day telling him that he wanted to come over to discuss the newest mess they found themselves in with the McGinley family. He had thought that Jason was going to let someone else take care of the job and spend some time in public, not allowing the police leverage over them. But now Jason stood in front of him, waiting for orders on how to handle the new threat.

Jason sighed again as Sonny took another sip from his glass. "She was busy, so I decided that I wanted to take care of this myself."

Nodding his head, Sonny tried to hide his smirk behind his glass as he took another sip. "I see."

Shaking his head again, Jason walked towards the living room and took a seat on the plush couch. Hands braced on his knees, Jason looked up at Sonny. "When do you want me to give them our message?"

Sonny sat down in the armchair that was arranged next to the couch. He rolled the glass between his hands and watched as the amber liquid splashed against the glass walls. "I don't." Looking up, he saw the confusion on Jason's face, "You're not going to deliver the message. I'm going to send Johnny to do it."

Jason sat back on the couch and continued to look at Sonny with confusion. "Why don't you want me to do it?"

Mimicking Jason's position, Sonny sat back in the arm chair and tilted his head to the side. "Taggert has been sniffing around more than normal lately. He has been trying to find anything to land either one of us in jail. I don't want to risk anything and-"

"I don't take risks that I can't handle Sonny; I'm good at what I do. Taggert won't be able to find anything to hold against me."

"I know that." And he did. Jason was the best person in the organization. He knew how to do his job and he did it better than anyone else could. But it wasn't a matter of whether or not Jason could pull this message off; it was just that Sonny didn't _want_ him to be doing that job. Sonny wanted him to be out in public. He wanted Jason to go out with him so he could try to rebuild their friendship again. After the whole mess with Carly happened, Jason told Sonny that he forgave him, but Sonny could feel the change in their friendship and he wanted everything to go back to as normal as it could. "I just thought that you and I could go to the No Name and grab a couple of drinks."

Jason stared at Sonny as the other man looked down at his drink, never making eye contact with him. The guilt was still written all over his face and Jason hated seeing it there. He realized that Sonny didn't want him to do the job not because he didn't think Jason could do it, but because he wanted to spend some time with him. Try and get the friendship back to normal. "Ok, we'll go to the No Name, but ah… Johnny can't do the job."

Sonny had his glass raised to his mouth and was about to finish the liquid off when Jason's words stopped him. "Why not?"

Rubbing his hands down the length of his jean clad thighs, Jason cleared his throat and tried to not look uncomfortable. "I…" clearing his throat again, Jason continued with more strength to his voice, "I assigned him to guard Elizabeth."

"Did Sorel approach her again?" Sonny was sitting up straighter now. Concern marred his face as he awaited Jason's answer.

"No." Sitting down was becoming too much for Jason so he stood up from the couch and walked towards the fireplace. He needed to move. "She was taking the trash out last night when she was closing Kelly's and she heard two men talking. She swears they didn't see her, but when she went to Jake's to meet me, she saw the two men there and one of them made eye contact with her. Elizabeth thinks it was nothing, but I'd rather be safe. Plus there is Sorel to be worried about. I'm sure he wouldn't approach her again, but he was never smart."

Standing up, Sonny walked around the armchair and back towards his wet bar. Lifting the cap off of one of the crystal decanters, Sonny began to pour the liquid into his glass. "So you put one of our best guards on her because someone made eye contact with her at Jakes?"

Facing his boss, Jason crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Sonny, not seeing the humor in the other man's eyes. "It's more than that Sonny and you know it. Elizabeth is in danger for just knowing me. I don't-"

Showing off his dimples, Sonny raised his glass towards Jason, "Relax man, I think it's a good idea you put Johnny on her."

"Good."

"It's better that she has someone with her at all times to keep her safe. You're right about Sorel and with this new threat, you can't be too careful. Besides, Elizabeth knows Johnny; it'll make it more comfortable for her having him around all the time."

The tense set of Jason's shoulders eased as Sonny agreed with his decision. But once the older man finished his sentence, the strain came back. "I… she… she doesn't know that Johnny is watching her."

When Sonny did nothing but raise his eyebrows in surprise, Jason dropped his arms from his chest and placed his hands on his hips, pushing his leather jacket up slightly. "She doesn't seem to think that she is in any danger and I know she would hate the idea of a guard. I would just rather have Johnny watch her without her knowing than her fighting with me."

"Why do you think these men are so dangerous?"

"She heard them say something about being new to town and having plans of taking us down."

All humor left Sonny's face as he placed his glass down on the wet bar. "So these men could be a part of the McGinley family?"

Nodding his head Jason answered, "I'm not sure, but they could be. It would make sense."

"And you're telling me that Elizabeth saw who these men were?"

"Yes."

Sighing, Sonny brought his thumb and forefinger to his eyes and pressed. Hard. Sucking his teeth, Sonny nodded his head before he looked at Jason. "Alright, we need to talk to Elizabeth and find out what these men look like."

"I don't like-"

"I don't like it either Jason, but Elizabeth could help us out in a way. She won't be put in danger; she is just going to tell us what the men look like."

Nodding his head, Jason turned his head to the side before he met Sonny's stare again. "Fine, but like I said, she's busy tonight so we'll have to wait until tomorrow to talk to her."

"She can't come by for a couple of minutes? We just need to ask her a few questions and-"

Needing to move again, Jason walked away from the fireplace and decided to sit down on the couch again. "She can't Sonny, she has a date." Jason didn't know why but it was difficult for him to utter that word.

Instead of following Jason and sitting on the couch again, Sonny moved towards his desk and leaned against it. He crossed his arms over his chest, propping the glass he held against the crook of his elbow as he crossed his legs at his ankles. Sonny had to bring his drink up to his lips to hide his smirk for the second time that night. When he thought he could compose himself, he set the drink down, "A date?"

Hearing someone else say the word made Jason's already scrunched forehead pull even tighter. His elbows were on his thighs and his hands were clasped together into a fist as he rested his chin on his knuckles. Not looking at Sonny but straight ahead at the wall, he answered "Yes."

"Are you ok with this?"

Jason's head snapped up so quickly that Sonny was surprised he didn't receive whiplash. "Why wouldn't I be ok with it?"

Sonny couldn't hide it anymore, his face broke out into a huge grin, dimples and all, and a slight chuckle escaped him at Jason's question that sounded more like a demand. He held his hands up in surrender as he straightened against the desk, "I was just asking. I know that you and Elizabeth have been spending a lot of time together. I didn't know if there was anything more going on, that's all."

Jason dropped his hands between his spread thighs and looked down at them. "We're just friends Sonny." Jason heard nothing but silence. He looked up at Sonny and the other man just looked at him and waited. Sighing, Jason continued. "I care about her, a lot. She saved my life and our friendship changed. I like being around her, and when I'm not, I want to be. But that…" looking up at Sonny again, Jason let out a frustrated sigh when he saw the smile on his friends face. Standing up, he walked towards the door "Never mind, it doesn't matter."

The tone in Jason's voice told Sonny not to argue with him. Jason had opened up again to him, had showed Sonny that his feelings ran deeper for Elizabeth than what he let others believe, but then he closed off again. Not wanting to screw up the progress they were making in their friendship, Sonny decided to drop the subject. Once Jason's hand closed around the front door, Sonny asked "Where are you going."

Jason turned back around to look at Sonny before he opened the door, "I thought we were going to the No Name."

"Yeah."

With that, Jason turned back around and made his way out of the penthouse with Sonny following behind him.

* * *

"After you my lady."

Grinning at her companion, Elizabeth slipped past Sebastian as he held the door to the No Name open for her. She stood in the warm waiting area and began to take her navy blue petticoat off. Once all of the buttons were undone, she felt Sebastian pulling it from her shoulders, being nothing but a gentleman. Under her coat she wore a light blue silk spaghetti strapped dress that hit her mid-calf in the back and angled up in the front ending just below her knees. According to Emily, the dress was perfect for her date. They added a darker blue sweater to wear if they were going someplace elegant, it added class to the dress, and she had the option of removing it if they were going someplace less fancy. Her hair was down and in fat ringlets, her make-up was done lightly, and her feet were enclosed in closed toe heels that strapped around her stocking-clad ankles.

When she went to Emily earlier that afternoon in desperate need of something to wear, the bubbly brunette jumped into action and tore her closet apart. After an afternoon of trying on almost every outfit that Emily Quartermaine owned, they finally decided on the classy, yet fun, dress she was now in. Elizabeth cursed herself for not asking Sebastian where they were going, but once he picked her up at her studio, she breathed a sigh of relief when he showed up in black slacks, shinny shoes, and a blue button down shirt that brought out the specks of blue in his light brown eyes.

They had spent the earlier part of the evening taking in the sights of Port Charles. He told her about his interest in Renaissance Art, so she took him to the Port Charles Gallery. Nothing compared to the masterpieces of Donatello or even Raphael, but they spent close to an hour walking the halls of the gallery, stopping every so often to discuss a certain piece.

After that, Sebastian suggested that she take him for a walk through the park he passed by earlier but didn't get a chance to walk through. At first, Elizabeth tensed slightly, but she quickly pushed that fear down, not allowing it to ruin the enjoyable night she was having. When they arrived at the park, they walked through the trail slowly taking in the crisp cold night air. Through their walk, she told him about the different places the Port Charles had to offer.

Half way through their date, Elizabeth began to realize that she was having a really good time. Sebastian was tentative to her the entire night, always holding the door open for her, assisting her in taking her coat off when necessary. He treated her like a lady and he made her laugh. Most of all, he made her feel comfortable. But there was still something missing. She enjoyed his company, liked being with him, but she didn't have any romantic feelings for him. She didn't have any expectations when she agreed to go on the date with him; she just took Tammy's advice and decided to have some fun. Which she was, but when she looked at Sebastian, she didn't feel that flutter that told her that maybe there could be more.

Deciding to forget about that non-existent feeling, Elizabeth made a silent promise to herself that she would still enjoy her night and wouldn't call Sebastian off just because she wasn't admittedly attracted to him. Feelings took time to grow, and she was willing to let hers for Sebastian grow. That was, of course, if they were going to. Shaking her head at her own thoughts, Elizabeth had to remind herself it was only the first date; she didn't need to be thinking about what could or could not happen with him just yet.

Sebastian returned from hanging their coats on the rack making Elizabeth snap out of her thoughts and look up at him. "I hope this place is ok. One of my dad's friends told him about this place and said that the food was really good. If you want to go somewhere else, I'd be more than happy-"

Placing her hand on his forearm, Elizabeth stopped him, "This is fine, thank you."

He flashed her a bright smile and was about to speak when the hostess interrupted. "Sebastian, party of two."

The two of them followed the woman into the restaurants main dining room. Sebastian placed his hand on the small of her back as they walked through the maze of tables. When the hostess placed their menus on a table, he moved around Elizabeth quickly and pulled her chair out for her, pushing it back in once she sat and flashed him a shy smile.

As Sebastian sat himself across from Elizabeth, neither of them noticed the set of eyes that was rooted on them from across the room.

* * *

As if by some pull, Jason's eyes immediately went to the table that now sat Elizabeth and her date. He left the bar to use the restroom and when he returned to Sonny's side, his gaze went to her table. She was facing him, but had yet to look up, and her date had his back to Jason. He continued to look on as Elizabeth laughed at something the blonde haired boy said. Finally, Jason let his eyes drift away from Elizabeth when he looked towards the back of the restaurant. Spotting Johnny, Jason gave the other man a nod and turned his attention back to Elizabeth before he turned back towards the bar.

When he went to take a pull from his beer bottle, he noticed Sonny's amused eyes on him. "What?"

"I see you noticed Elizabeth is here." Sonny chuckled.

Instead of answering Sonny, Jason took another long pull from his beer, emptying the entire bottle. Raising his hand to signal the bartender for another beer, Jason did everything that he could to not look in the direction of Elizabeth. "How much longer until we can leave?"

Chuckling again, Sonny patted his friend on the shoulder. "Francis is going to call me when he clears the warehouse." Glancing down at his watch, Sonny frowned. "He should be calling any minute now."

As if by magic, Sonny's phone rang with Francis on the other end. Jason turned his head over his shoulder once more to look towards Elizabeth's table again. His eyes lingered on her face that was blossomed into a smile directed towards her date. He didn't know this guy, but he didn't like him. He got a bitter taste in his mouth when he saw the other man raise his hand and brush a stray curl out of Elizabeth's face that his own hands itched to touch. Curling his hands into fists, he used all of his self restraint to not go over there and personally remove Sebastian's hand from Elizabeth's cheek.

Turning his attention back to Sonny, he let out a sigh of relief once the older man hung up his phone after telling Francis they would meet him at his penthouse. Both men removed themselves from the bar and made their way towards the entrance.

On his way past Elizabeth's table, far enough away so she didn't see him, Jason let his eyes linger on her a bit more before he turned his eyes to steel and looked up towards Johnny. A silent agreement passed between the two as Jason left the No Name. Johnny was to keep a careful eye on Elizabeth and allow nothing to happen to her.

* * *

The entire time during her dinner, Elizabeth felt like someone was watching her. Every time she would look up to try and catch someone's eyes on her, no one was looking at her. Her dinner with Sebastian was enjoyable but uneventful. He told her about his family letting her learn more about him. He came from a rather small family, had an older brother and an older sister. His mother died when he was still young, and his father never remarried. Although his family seemed to enjoy the finer things in life, he was never one for the high-society. He was an outcast of his family, always being compared to his older brother and never meeting his father's expectations. Elizabeth told him about her own family and also being in the shadow of her older sister. For most of the evening the two shared stories about how they did everything they could to be the exact opposite of their siblings.

Just as their waitress was in the midst of clearing some of their dishes, Sebastian's phone rang. "I'm sorry; I thought I turned this off."

When he was about to turn the phone off, Elizabeth shook her head. "That's ok, answer it. I have to run to the ladies room for a second anyway."

She stood to make her way to the restroom and shook her head at Sebastian's politeness. Even as he was answering his phone, he still stood up with her, showing off his manners.

Her head was down as she made her way towards the restroom, but as she looked up to see where she was headed, she saw a familiar man sitting at the end of the bar. He did his best to look anywhere but at her, but she knew he knew she saw him. Looking back at her table, Elizabeth saw that Sebastian was still on the phone and decided to make a detour to the bathroom. Slipping past a couple of tables, Elizabeth made her way to Johnny and did nothing to stop the smirk that appeared on her lips at his blatant display of ignorance to her presence. Standing behind him now, Elizabeth crossed her arms under her chest and cleared her throat. The man still ignored her making Elizabeth clear her throat louder. When Johnny still continued to ignore her, she gave in and tapped the man on his shoulder, knowing he wouldn't be able to ignore her then.

Johnny turned in his seat and put on his best surprised face, which wasn't very good. "Oh, hey Ms. Webber, I didn't know you were here."

"Uh huh." Moving to stand next to him at the bar, Elizabeth gave one last glance at Sebastian who was still on the phone. In a casual voice that matched Johnny's, Elizabeth asked, "What are you doing here Johnny?"

Raising his bottle, Johnny made a show of taking a sip from his beer, the same one he had the entire night. "Just grabbing a couple of drinks before I head home. What are you doing here?"

Suspicion clouded her eyes. "I'm on… I'm just out with a friend right now. Hey Johnny, I saw you earlier today at-"

Before she finished her sentence, Elizabeth glanced up and noticed Sebastian was finished with his phone call looking around the restaurant for her. Locking eyes with Johnny once more, Elizabeth squinted at his uncomfortable shifting. "Sorry to cut this short, but I have to get back to my friend. I'll see you around Johnny. Make sure to say hey to Jason for me?"

As she made her way back towards Sebastian, she heard Johnny call after her. "Sure thing Ms. Webber."

Turning back around, Elizabeth gave Johnny a stern look. "Please Johnny, call me Elizabeth. Ms. Webber just seems so… old."

Johnny watched as she went back to her table and let out a sigh of relief. Jason would kill him if he found out that Elizabeth kept catching him.

Elizabeth made her way back towards Sebastian and sat down at her seat again. When she looked up at him, her slight smile slipped her face at his troubled expression. She placed her hand on top of his making him finally notice that she sat down again. "Is everything ok?"

Sighing, Sebastian looked at Elizabeth with regret. "I'm afraid I have to cut our night short. I just got a call from my father and I have to go home to take care of something."

"Is everything ok? Did something happen?"

Smiling despite the news his father just gave him; Sebastian turned his hand over and grasped hers. "Nothing for you to be worried about, just some business problems that he needs me home for."

Removing her hand from under his, Elizabeth scooted back in her chair. "Oh, of course. I hope everything will be ok."

Placing his hand on the small of her back, Sebastian steered her towards the entrance, "I'm sure it will."

* * *

"Everything went off according to plan?"

"Yes, I got in there, searched for any important files, found none and then set the place ablaze."

Giving Francis a sinister smile, Sonny patted the blonde haired man on the back. "Good job Francis. You made sure that you left nothing behind?"

"Not a thing that could link back to us." Francis declared.

Jason, Sonny and Francis were standing in the entry way of his penthouse when there was a knock on the door. Benny opened the door slightly and stuck his head through the opening. Seeing the other three men, Benny opened the door completely and entered. "I found that information you wanted me to Sonny."

Giving his boss the files, Benny crossed his arms over his chest and propped his chin in his open palm. Jason and Sonny huddled together as they looked over the pictures and files of the McGinley family. Sonny nodded his head after he looked through each file and handed them to Jason so that the other man could get a better look.

Flipping through the pages and photographs, Jason was about to ask look through the final file when there was another knock on the door followed by Johnny's entrance. "Why aren't you with Elizabeth?"

Stopping his movements of closing the oak door, Johnny looked at Jason with wide eyes before he shut the door. "She's at her studio right now. Her date ended and the guy dropped her off and then left. I waited outside after he left and I saw the light in her studio go off." Placing his hands on his hips, Johnny gave Sonny a questioning look and when the other man did nothing but smirk and shake his head, Johnny turned his nervous eyes to Jason again. "Was I supposed to stay? I thought I was only supposed to watch her during the day."

Handing the files to Johnny, Jason sighed. "Yeah, sorry. I'll uh… I'll assign Alex to be her night guard. I want someone on her all the time." Pointing to the files he just handed over to Johnny, Jason continued. "Those are pictures of the McGinley family. Take a look at them and see if you've seen any of them around."

As Johnny went through the files, all five men moved towards the dining room table intent on discussing business. Every man was situated in a chair when Johnny cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Looking towards Jason, Johnny spoke up silencing the other men. "I think we have a problem."

Sonny leaned back in his chair and asked, "What?"

"I've defiantly seen this one before." Pulling the picture out of the last file, Johnny placed it in the middle of the table for all the men to see. "He was… he uh… he's."

Looking annoyed, Jason raised his eyebrows, "Spit it out Johnny."

"That's the guy that was on the date with Eliz, uh, Ms. Webber tonight."

As Jason looked down at the picture of one of his enemies, he took in the new information Johnny just announced. When he looked up from the photo he found five pairs of eyes on him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Elizabeth sat there; staring at the empty canvas that was set up in the downstairs room at The Brownstone. After her night out on the town with Sebastian ended sooner than she expected, she suddenly had a burst of inspiration. She quickly changed from her dress into her painting clothes. A pair of faded jeans with a hole in the right leg leaving her knee exposed, and a flannel shirt that she tied into a knot just above her belly button. She scrubbed the light make-up she wore from her face, and hurriedly set up her substitute studio. But once everything was done, once the easel was unfolded and a blank canvas was placed on it, she couldn't think of anything to paint.

Although she had a wonderful evening, nothing really stood out from their night together that made her want to paint. There was no one moment of completeness that called out to her to paint. No emotion that was so overwhelming that she had to paint it. She couldn't understand what had made her want to paint when she said goodnight to Sebastian and walked into the front door of The Brownstone. After he had lifted her hand to his lips for a sweet chaste kiss and said goodnight, she just had a sudden urge to paint. Elizabeth knew it wasn't the kiss he placed upon her hand that caused the feeling. When his warm lips touched her skin, she felt nothing.

Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, Elizabeth felt almost guilty for that feeling. How could she have such a wonderful night with such a wonderful man and feel nothing when he kissed her hand? She truly wanted to give Sebastian a chance. He was new to town and he seemed to take a genuine interest in her. But she couldn't help but think that no matter how many more dates they went on together, she would have no feelings for him other than as a friend.

Rolling her eyes at her own reluctance to give him a chance, Elizabeth raised her hand to make the first stroke against the canvas. Hesitating, she chewed harder on her lip, not able to visualize anything. Her hands itched to paint something, anything, yet her mind would not cooperate. It was an odd feeling for her to not know what to paint. It was never a problem for her to know what to paint; the problem was always translating the picture she had in her head and making it into a painting on the canvas.

She dropped her arm back down to her side and blew out a frustrated breath, causing the hair that spilled in front of her face to move slightly. Tilting her head to the side slightly, Elizabeth starred at the blank canvas. Hard. As a thought passed through her, she couldn't help but let a huge smile play across her lips, maybe she didn't need to start a new painting, maybe she needed to finish an old one.

Silently thanking Taggert for letting her go into her studio that was still under police investigation for some supplies earlier that week, Elizabeth ran upstairs to her room, threw open her closet and pulled out the painting she knew she wanted to finish. She quickly made her way back downstairs and replaced the blank canvas that tortured her for a good thirty minutes with the almost complete painting of _The Wind_.

Within minutes, Elizabeth's hand was moving with quick strong strokes as she sunk deep within herself and remembered the feeling of being on the back of Jason's bike. The feeling of not having a care in the world mixed in with freedom. Nothing in the world could touch her when she was on the back of his bike, nothing but the wind in her face and the feeling of completeness.

There wasn't much left with the painting that she needed to finish. But when she showed Jason the painting, there was something missing with it. It didn't feel right to give it to him yet. After their bike ride the night before, she felt a surge of energy, but she had to get up early so she forced herself to go to bed instead of painting. As she leaned back on her stool and surveyed the painting, Elizabeth knew that the feeling she felt earlier was the left over feeling from the night before. She had an urge to paint, and that urge was to finish her, no, Jason's painting of _The Wind_.

She was about to go back to painting when the phone rang. She quickly made her way to the telephone so that Bobbie would not wake up. It wasn't too late in the night, but Bobbie had an early morning at the hospital.

"Hello?"

"Elizabeth?"

Frowning at the phone, Elizabeth wrapped the cord around her finger, "Sebastian?"

"Hey, it's not too late to call you is it?"

"No, no it's fine." She licked her lips, "Is everything ok?"

She heard him let out a slight chuckle on the other end of the line before he spoke. "Yeah, everything is fine. You're probably wondering why I'm calling you, huh?"

Shaking her head once, her forehead creased into another frown, "Pretty much."

He sighed into the phone and Elizabeth could tell he was trying to figure out what to say. It took her a moment, but she realized that he must have been nervous about calling her. She could bet money that he was either rubbing his chin or licking his lips several times as he contemplated what to say. Those were both nervous habits of his, something she had learned from their night together.

"I, um, I know this is kind of sudden." She heard his lips smack together when he paused and smiled to herself, he was defiantly licking his lips. "But, my family, we're, uh, we're kind of having this house warming party tomorrow night, and I was, um, see, I was wondering…"

When he paused, Elizabeth let the cord fall from her finger before she twisted it again. A crocked smile appeared across her lips. "Sebastian, do you want me to come to your party?"

The question was asked with a lightness that put him at ease. "Yes, if you don't have previous plans that is."

When he was acting so nervous, Elizabeth had found it cute and endearing. But now that the question was out in the open she hesitated. She had just met Sebastian, only spent one night with him, and he was already asking her to meet his family.

Her slight hesitation didn't go unnoticed by Sebastian, "You already have plans don't you."

"I, um…I do kind of have plans with a friend actually." She wasn't lying. She did have plans to go on a bike ride with Jason the next night. "What time does the party start?"

"Around seven, it won't be that long of a party."

She could hear the disappointment in his voice. Jason would probably have to work late and they never did go out on rides until later in the night. Sighing, Elizabeth twisted the telephone cord around her finger once more. "You know what, my plans are for later in the evening, so I…I could make it to your party."

* * *

He took another shot.

It was his third one that night, and just like the previous two, it did nothing to calm his nerves. He couldn't believe it.

Couldn't fucking believe it.

It was one thing for there to be another threat to his and Sonny's business. They dealt with threats everyday. Threats were such a common thing in their business, that it would scare them if they went a day without one. But this was different. This wasn't about the business or the new family that messed with them that morning.

This was about Elizabeth.

Jason had never wanted his life to touch her. They started their friendship because she needed a friend. Someone who would listen to her and help her move on from the nothingness in her life and he happened to be that someone. He didn't mind taking her on bike rides; he actually enjoyed them more when she was with him. He didn't mind listening to her talk; he always thought it was interesting to listen to her think. Their friendship worked out. He would listen to her, take her for rides, and somewhere during their talks, she started to listen to him. He could talk to her about losing Michael and being betrayed by Robin. The only thing that he still couldn't talk to her about was Carly and Sonny sleeping together.

But their friendship had turned into more when she saved his life. They no longer considered each other as just friends. They were more than friends, more than just two people who would meet on the docks and talk for hours. He couldn't pin point the exact moment that it happened, but Elizabeth began to mean a great deal to him. Like he said earlier that night to Sonny before they went out to the No Name, he liked being around Elizabeth. He liked spending time with her beyond bike rides and talks. Elizabeth became a major part of his life, and even though he knew he should walk away from her, even though he tried it before and failed, he couldn't walk away from her. He didn't _want_ to walk away from her.

Sighing, Jason reached for the timber filled with Sonny's best liquor and poured himself another shot. Even though this was his life, even though fucking Sebastian McGinley was a part of the business that defined Jason's life, it wasn't him that was putting Elizabeth in danger.

As much as he knew she shouldn't be anywhere near the life that Sonny and he lived, for once, he had nothing to do with her closeness to it. And for some reason, that pissed him off.

Tipping the shot back, Jason felt nothing as the burning liquid left a fiery trail down his throat. He didn't even flinch as he felt the alcohol settle low in his stomach. Before he even knew who Sebastian was, he didn't like the guy. He didn't know what caused his hatred for the other man, but now that he knew who the guy was; he brushed his earlier feelings off as instinct.

Jason had always been a great judge of character. He knew when someone was lying, knew who he could and could not trust with just one look. And that was what happened earlier when Elizabeth had told him about her…date. He didn't know at the time who the guy was, but it was his instincts that told him he was no good, and he was right.

Shaking his head at his own arrogance, Jason reached for the timber again before Sonny's voice stopped him.

"Maybe you should slow down."

Jason turned away from the wet bar and looked at Sonny with a blank expression. Without a word, Jason walked towards the couch his friend sat on and plopped down. Johnny, Francis, and Benny had left earlier when they found out about Sebastian. Sonny took one look at Jason's face and quietly suggested that the other men go home until they heard from either him or Jason. None of the three men hesitated from standing up quickly from their seats and leaving the penthouse without taking a second look at Jason.

After the other men left, Sonny had made his way to the couch and watched on as Jason poured himself shot after shot. Between each pour, Sonny could tell that Jason was thinking. His face would grow tight and a muscle in his neck would pop out before he would reach for his shot glass again. He had no problem with letting the younger man work thorough his thoughts, but they needed to figure out what they were going to do about the McGinley's, Sebastian, and Elizabeth. He wasn't sure how much more Jason would drink, but Sonny needed him to have a straight head on when they discussed their newest problem.

"What do you want to do?"

Jason turned only his head as he peered up at Sonny from his position on the couch. While Sonny sat tall, one leg bent at the knee with his foot resting on the opposite knee and his drink propped on the arm of the chair. Jason sat slumped against the couch with his legs stretched out in front of him and his arms crossed over his chest. He looked defeated, Sonny noted. It was a look he was not used to seeing on the younger man.

Jason shook his head, sighed and squinted at the fireplace, "I'm not sure."

"We have to tell Elizabeth." Sonny knew he was stating the obvious, but he needed to get Jason thinking. The other man always knew what to do within seconds of being put in front of a new situation. To see Jason slouching against his couch and not knowing what to do was something that Sonny wasn't used to. He realized that he didn't like it.

"I know." The words passed through Jason's lips like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. "I don't know how she is going to take it though."

"What do you mean?" Not letting the other man answer, Sonny scratched his eyebrow with his thumbnail as he continued. "We tell Elizabeth about Sebastian and how he is a threat, and that she needs to stay away from him."

Jason looked at his mentor as he spoke and actually laughed at him. It was a short laugh that softened his features for a moment and caused his lips to spread into a crocked smile. "You don't know Elizabeth."

Jason could tell that he surprised Sonny, and before the older man could comment, he went on. Sitting up straight and placing his elbows on his knees, Jason's gaze flickered to the fireplace and watched as the flames danced, looking like one big red blur to him. "She doesn't like people telling her what to do. And if she likes Sebastian…" He let out a long, tired sigh, "Really likes him, nothing will make her stay away from him."

"Not even knowing that he is an enemy of yours?"

Never being one to sit for to long, Jason stood from the couch and walked back towards the wet bar. "She might stay away from him because of that." Reaching for a glass, Jason poured himself a glass of water. "But I don't know how she feels about this guy. She said that he was new to town and she was just showing him around. But...I, uh…" Sighing, Jason placed his hand over his mouth and rubbed his jaw.

"Jason, Elizabeth has shown many times that she wouldn't turn her back on you." At first, Sonny was talking to Jason's profile, but once he went on, the other man turned to face him, crossing his arms over his chest. "She hid you from everyone man. She stood in front of the entire hospital and let them believe that she was sleeping with you just to protect you. Do you honestly think that Elizabeth would let this guy Sebastian come between your… your friendship?"

"No I don't." After placing his drink back on the wet bar, Jason placed his hands on his hips, "I honestly don't know how she is going to take this." Laughing at the thought, Jason voiced it anyway, "She might even want to help."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. She might look at this as a way to help us with the McGinley's. She knows Sebastian, so that gives us an in into the family."

"Is that such a bad thing?"

"What?" The question was asked as more of a demand. Jason knew that he couldn't be hearing Sonny right. The other man could not be suggesting that they let Elizabeth into this situation.

"Just listen to me." He dropped his leg down, placing both feet on the floor as he sat on the couch at looked up into Jason's confused face. "I'm not saying that we let her help out in the business part of things. But having her close to Sebastian might benefit us."

"How? How would putting her life in danger benefit us Sonny?" He didn't let the other man answer as he continued to fume. "What happened to never letting women get involved in this life?" He continued to look at Sonny with angry eyes as he lifted his eyebrows in question.

"We wouldn't be letting her get involved with the business. All I'm saying is that if Elizabeth is just friends with Sebastian then-"

"Then what?" interrupting Sonny, Jason stood taller as his cold blue eyes stared at the other man, "Nothing good could come out of Elizabeth being around Sebastian. How would you feel if this were Lily or even Brenda in this? Would you want their lives to be put in danger because it might help us out?"

Nodding his head, Sonny broke eye contact and looked down at his untouched drink that he held between his legs, wanting nothing more than to drink it in that moment. "No."

"Then why are you so willing to put Elizabeth's life in danger?"

Sonny turned his head and looked at Jason, really looked at the man. He stood tall with his hands hanging down at his sides as his hands pumped into fists. Anger rolled off of him in waves. "Your right." Standing up, Sonny placed his still untouched drink on the coffee table. "Your right, I don't know why I even suggested it."

His shoulders relaxed and his hands loosened at Sonny's reply. "I'm going to go talk to her."

When he turned to walk away, Sonny's voice stopped him. "Now?"

"Yes."

"Alright, just, good luck I guess."

Jason didn't smile or reply in return. He just nodded his head once, turned back around, and walked out. Leaving Sonny to look at the closed door and listen to his thoughts about Jason and Elizabeth.

When had Jason fallen for Elizabeth?

* * *

After she hung up the phone with Sebastian, Elizabeth went back to her painting. Before she started again, she sat there and looked at the painting, but not really seeing it. Sebastian had told her that he would pick her up at The Brownstone at seven o'clock. He refused her attempts to tell him that she could get there on her own and told her that it wouldn't be proper for him to allow her to find her own way to his party.

When she said goodbye to him, she waited for that feeling to come. A warm sensation low in her belly at the excitement of seeing Sebastian again the next night, but it never came. The thought of seeing Sebastian again barely caused any excitement in her, not like the thought of seeing Jason usually caused.

Even before she found him in the snow that day, she looked forward to seeing him. It wasn't just the bike rides or the talks that she looked forward to; it was just being around him. When she saved his life, that feeling grew deeper and stronger. She had a connection with Jason and, sadly, she didn't think she would have anything close to that connection with Sebastian.

Just as she was about to attack her canvas again, there was a knock at the front door. Confused, Elizabeth placed her paintbrush down and walked to the front door, looking through the peephole.

Smiling, Elizabeth unlocked the deadbolt and the doorknob before throwing the door open and giving her visitor a bright smile.

"Jason, hey."

"Hey." Before he could ask her if he could come in, she opened the door wider and ushered him in. He walked into the living room and turned around.

"What brings you by?"

He noticed that she was in her painting clothes. Her hair was pulled to the top of her head with curls spilling free, and there were splashes of paint on her bare stomach, a blue splash right above her belly button. She looked the complete opposite from what she looked liked earlier that night at the No Name. This, he realized, was the real Elizabeth. "I'm not interrupting you am I?"

"What?" Looking down at her ensemble, Elizabeth took in her rugged appearance and didn't feel at all embarrassed. "No, your not interrupting anything, I was at a stand still anyway." She waved her hand in the air as she made her way towards him. Careful that the paint on her clothing was still not wet, Elizabeth sat on Bobbie's couch, prompting Jason to follow.

When he sat down, Elizabeth noticed the tightness of his shoulders once he stripped his leather jacket off. His face even appeared tight as he looked at her, "Is everything ok?"

She was looking at him with wide eyes, and concern was shining through. Sighing, he realized, it was concern for him. "Everything is fine. I-I'm here because I needed to talk to you about your...your date."

"My date?" A little taken back by his reason, Elizabeth turned her body on the couch to face him fully, tucking her leg underneath her. "Um, well, it went good I guess. Sebastian is a nice guy and I had fun with him, and that's about it. But I have a feeling that you didn't come all the way here to ask me how my date was. What's really going on Jason?"

He was sitting straight, not really looking at her. But at her question he turned his body to face her, placing his arm along the back of the couch. "That guy that you went out with, Sebastian, he's not who you think he is."

"I don't understand."

"Elizabeth, Sebastian's dad is the head of a major organization in Philadelphia." She continued to look at him with a confused expression. Sighing, Jason tilted his head down and peered at her as he tried to make her understand. "His family is the most powerful crime family in Philadelphia and they just moved here to Port Charles to expand their operation."

When she straightened on the couch and her eyes opened wider, Jason knew she understood what he was saying. She looked away from him and down at her hands that she began to twist together in her lap. She didn't say anything for the longest time making Jason worry. Placing his hand over hers his words were laced with concern, "Are you ok?"

"How did you find out about Sebastian?" She didn't look up at him, just continued to stare at her hands that were now covered by one of his. "Did you do some type of background check or whatever it is you guys do?"

When she did look up at him, her eyes held a simmering fire. A part of her found the notion of Jason checking up on her date as sweet, but the other part of her, the one that was shining through at that moment, was angry. Jason respected her and he let her make her own decisions, with the exception of the couple of days he called off their friendship. He understood her need to be independent, so it confused her that he would do something like that. She didn't want to think of it that way, but she couldn't help but think that that was something Nicolas would do.

"No," Jason shook his head and relaxed when the slight fire in her eyes dimmed. "I can't tell you too much about it, but the McGinley's caused trouble for us this morning, and we looked into it. That's how I found out about Sebastian."

She tilted her head to the side, "Ok, that explains how you found out about who Sebastian was, but that doesn't explain how you knew he was the one I went out with tonight."

She held her smile in when she actually witnessed Jason Morgan, man of steel, squirm. "Johnny was at the No Name tonight, and when he came over, he identified Sebastian as the guy you were out with."

Her lips separated at his answer, showing her surprise. "Oh." She licked her lips, "You know it's weird, I've been seeing a lot of Johnny lately."

It was now Jason's turn to show his surprise. But, thankfully for him, she wasn't looking at him for the second that his eyes portrayed his surprise before he quickly pushed the feeling down. Johnny was supposed to be her shadow; she wasn't supposed to know that he was around. "You saw Johnny at the No Name?"

"Yeah, he was sitting at the bar having a couple of drinks. I went to say hi to him, but I didn't get a chance to talk to him for to long. He looked a little stressed though. I think you and Sonny are working him to hard."

Sighing, Jason took a few moments to compose himself so he wouldn't let his frustration at the other man show. Deciding to move on from the subject of Johnny, Jason looked back at Elizabeth and his entire face softened. "I just wanted to tell you about Sebastian. I know how much you hate hearing this, but you should stay away from him."

Instead of seeing the annoyance appear on her face that he expected, she actually looked, guilty. "Actually, I can't stay away from him."

His eyes squinted, "Why?"

"He asked me to go to his family's party." She was looking everywhere but at him. "And I said yes."

He frowned. "You can't call him and cancel?"

"I, well, ugh," Standing up from the couch, Elizabeth began to walk back and forth in front of the couch, wringing her hands together the entire time. "It's not that simple Jason. Sebastian, he's…he's a really nice guy and I like hanging out with him. I realized during our date that our friendship would probably be nothing more than a friendship, but he seems like a really nice guy and I wanted to get to know him better. I would feel horrible if I called him up and canceled on him, especially after he seemed so relieved that I was going to go."

As she continued to ramble on, she didn't notice the different emotions that Jason went through. At first he was tense when she began to tell him about how she couldn't break her plans with the other man. But when she told him that she didn't feel anything for Sebastian, anything more than a friendship, Jason actually relaxed. But as she continued to go on, the tension found its way back into his posture, making him sit tall on the couch as he watched her pace.

"What if I just go to his party and then not make any more plans with him."

Standing up, Jason walked over to Elizabeth and stopped her movements by placing his hands over her shoulders, gripping her lightly. "Sebastian is dangerous Elizabeth."

She closed her eyes, and Jason felt her shoulders slump underneath his hands. "I know his family is dangerous," opening her eyes, she titled her head back so she could look into his eyes. "But I don't feel right with canceling on him."

Neither said a word as they continued to look at each other, it wasn't until Elizabeth tilted her head to the side and squinted her eyes that she finally spoke again. "Do you…You think that Sebastian is using me to get to you don't you?"

Actually, that thought never occurred to him. Dropping his hands from her shoulders, Jason walked towards Bobbie's fireplace before he turned around to look at her again. "He might be. But I don't know." He shrugged his shoulders, "Just promise me that you will stay away from him?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't." She placed both of her hands against her stomach and began to rub lightly, "For some reason, I don't think that Sebastian is using me in anyway. Jason…" When he sighed and shook his head, looking away from her, Elizabeth walked up to him and placed her hand on his forearm, "Jason, just trust me on this. I really believe that Sebastian just wants to get to know me."

He was looking down at her, and just by looking into her eyes, he knew that he wasn't going to be able to make her change her mind. Elizabeth was stubborn; it was one of the things that he liked most about her. It was also one of the things that frustrated him the most. "You're really going to go to this party?"

"I want to, yes."

He dropped his chin to his chest and let out a long, deep sigh that whispered across her arm. "Ok." Before she could step away from him and remove her hand from his arm, Jason grabbed her hand in his and stared at it for a moment before he looked into her deep blues, "But I am going to put a guard on you at the party." She opened her mouth to interrupt but he squeezed her hand, silencing her protest. "He won't be there to just watch you; I'm going to have him go to the party undercover, but he will also be there incase anything happens."

"Nothing is going to-"

"Please."

Her eyes softened at his request and Elizabeth found herself nodding in acceptance. "Ok."

"Thank you." Without thinking, Jason dropped her hand, placed his hand on her neck, bending forward to give her a kiss on her forehead. He let his lips linger a little longer than normal before he pulled back.

He walked passed her towards the front door and grabbed his jacket, in the midst of putting it on, her voice stopped him.

"I honestly don't think that anything bad is going to happen Jason. But you do know that I wouldn't let Sebastian come between our friendship, right?"

He stood there for a moment and just looked at her before he nodded his head and gave her a slight smile. "I know."

She took in a deep breath and smiled at him in return as she watched him turn around and leave.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Standing in the center of the McGinley's entry way, Elizabeth felt like an imposter. Sebastian had called her earlier that day and, regrettably, told her that the party was going to be more formal than he had first thought. Elizabeth's first reaction was to tell him that since it was a formal affair, she would not be able to attend. But the pleading tone he used and the fact that he sounded very apologetic for not telling her the correct information regarding his family's party made Elizabeth decide that she would still go.

A quick call to Emily, and Elizabeth found herself spending the entire afternoon rummaging through her best friend's closet, yet again. It was a little easier finding the dress that Elizabeth would wear that night, for both girls new that it was a formal affair, but not something that needed gowns. Elizabeth only had to try on half of her friends evening dresses before they both decided on a strapless black dress that fell to her ankles, hugged her curves, and shimmered whenever she moved.

Emily had wanted to take Elizabeth to her hair dresser, but Elizabeth had refused and decided to leave her hair down for the evening, curling just the ends into ringlets. Emily had told her that she looked beautiful with her smoky makeup and form-fitting dress. Her friend had wanted to stay at the Brownstone and see Sebastian when he came to pick Elizabeth up, but she had previous plans with Juan and had to leave half-an-hour before Sebastian came.

Even Sebastian commented on how gorgeous she looked that night when she opened the door for him, and surprisingly enough, Elizabeth felt elegant and pretty when he bent his head and kissed her hand just before walking her towards his awaiting limo.

But with all of the feelings and all of the encouraging words letting her know she looked like she belonged at Sebastian's party, she didn't _feel_ like she belonged. Everything about her appearance made her feel like a fake. The dress, the black heels she wore, even the small purse she carried wasn't hers. Her hair was different than she normally wore it when she dressed up for anything, and even her make-up was darker than normal. She may have looked like she belonged in the McGinley's fancy house, but Elizabeth knew it wasn't true.

Sebastian's hand found its way to the small of her back and urged her to move forward. The click of her heels on the tile floor was the only sound Elizabeth heard as she took in Sebastian's house. The McGinley's home was very open and very white with its high ceilings and marble staircase that led to the second floor of the house. Before Elizabeth even steeped foot into the house, she knew it was huge when the limo drove around the circle driveway and stopped at the front door.

Sebastian took Elizabeth on what he called a tiny tour of the lower portion of his home. But what he considered to be a tiny tour took at least twenty minutes to see each room, from the family library, to his father's personal office. Finally, Sebastian led her into the main room where all of the other guests had gathered.

They had run into a few people on their "small" tour of his home, but once they stepped into what looked to be the living room, Elizabeth noticed that every one had gathered there. Elizabeth scanned the party's guests, looking to see if she saw anyone familiar and knowing that she wouldn't, unless she knew the person Jason and Sonny were placing as her guard for the party. As she scanned the crowd, she noticed that the living room had two French doors that were open, inviting people to step outside into the garden and stand by the pool.

She was pulled out of her assessment of the party's patrons when Sebastian returned to her with two glasses of wine. Smiling at him, she took the glass from him, bringing it to her lips and swallowing a tiny sip. She tried to hold back the sour look that appeared on her face, but Sebastian had already seen it and laughed.

"I take it you don't like wine."

She really didn't know until that moment. "I guess not. I'm not much of a drinker. Do you have any water?"

"I think that can be arranged." Sebastian told her as he took her glass from her and walked away. Elizabeth studied him as he talked to a waiter, probably asking for a glass of water. He looked extremely handsome in his dark suit and bowtie. Sebastian not only looked like he fit in with the other guests, but Elizabeth knew that he _did_ fit in. As she walked towards the stone fire place, she began to wish that she hadn't gone to the party and used Jason as an excuse. They still had their ride planned for later that night, but she could have told Sebastian that she already had plans for earlier that evening. Maybe she and Jason could have gone out to Jake's before their ride. He still had to teach her to play pool, something he promised a while ago but because of both of their schedules, it was something that hadn't happened yet. All Elizabeth knew was that she would have much rather been playing pool with Jason than standing in the McGinley's home.

"I'm sorry, but it seems that this party is extremely boring with no hope of getting any better."

Plastering a smile on her face, Elizabeth turned around to face Sebastian and was happy to take the water out of his hands, anything to wash out the bitter taste of the one sip of wine she had. "It's fine. I'm having a good time."

"No your not."

"Neither are you," she laughed.

Sebastian moved closer to her, placing one hand on the fireplace mantle as he held his glass of wine in his other hand. To any onlooker, the two of them looked to be in an intimate conversation. That was something that Elizabeth really did not want. "I'm having a better time than I would if you weren't here."

Her smile wavered just a bit. Elizabeth made a show of taking a sip from her water glass, and hoped that when she took a step back, it didn't look to obvious that he was making her uncomfortable with his closeness. He didn't seem to notice and went on to telling her about his home back in Philadelphia when she posed the question, wanting nothing more than to steer the topic off of her.

While Sebastian told her stories about growing up in Philadelphia, gaining her genuine attention, neither noticed another man watching them from across the room.

* * *

"Did he see her yet?"

Stan nearly jumped five feet off of the limo bench when Jason pulled open the back door and sat inside the limo. He had his earphones on, listening to everything that was going on in the party through Johnny's wire and hadn't expected anyone to come inside the limo. Sonny had told him that it was just him and Johnny since nothing was supposed to happen, so having Jason open the back door nearly scared the shit out of him.

"What are you doing here?"

Jason sat on the seat next to Stan and stared at the other man for a moment before he looked away and shrugged, annoyed that his question had not been answered. "I came to see what was going on. Did Johnny see Elizabeth yet?" His question was asked with a little bit of agitation, something he didn't mean.

To be honest, he had been in a grumpy mood all day, snapping at workers when they asked him a question about shipments. Even Sonny had stayed away from Jason, not wanting to be on the receiving end of his grumpy attitude. The only time that the other man had talked to Jason was when Jason singled him out, only to ask him about the events that were going to occur that night.

Jason had been annoyed when Sonny had said that only Johnny and Stan needed to attend the party that night. Johnny on the inside, wearing the wire, getting information on the new family, while Stan sat in the limo, recording every conversation that deemed any importance. Sonny had reassured Jason that along with keeping an eye on the new family, Johnny would also watch Elizabeth once she arrived.

Sonny's reassurance did little to ease Jason's agitation or growing instinct that something was going to go wrong that night. So, instead of finishing up paperwork until Elizabeth called him, letting him know that she was ready for their ride, Jason got on his motorcycle and rode to the McGinley's house and decided that he wanted to make sure personally that everything was going to be ok.

"Yeah, actually, he just told me that Elizabeth walked into the main room with Sebastian. It's just the two of them and their talking."

"Alright." Jason looked out of the window for a moment before he looked back towards Stan. "Can you communicate with Johnny?"

"Yeah, he has an ear piece in."

Stan handed Jason the mini-microphone, not daring to laugh or even smile at his boss.

"Johnny."

Inside the house, Johnny nearly knocked into a woman who was passing behind him when Jason's voice boomed into his ear, making him take a step back and place a hand over his ear before he recovered. Shaking himself out of it, Johnny raised his glass to his lips and looked around before he spoke in a harsh whisper. "What?"

"Can you see Elizabeth right now?"

Clenching one hand into a fist, Johnny almost broke his glass in his tight grip. "Damn it Jason, don't talk so loud." Taking in a deep breath to ease the pain in his ear, Johnny looked around again before he answered. "Yes, I'm across the room from her."

"Did she see you?"

"I don't think so. She came in and looked around, but she didn't look in my direction."

Sighing, Jason looked out the tinted window once more. "Is she with anyone else but Sebastian?"

Johnny coughed into his fist. "She was, but now he is introducing her to his brother, sister, and dad."

"Damn it." Jason didn't mean to speak too loud, but even Johnny's whispered curse at Jason that he was going to make him go deaf didn't make his anger at the situation subside. He didn't want Elizabeth to go to the party, but didn't protest too much when she made it clear that she wanted to go. He had just hoped that—even though he didn't like Sebastian—Elizabeth would only talk with Sebastian and stay far away from his father. It was something he knew wasn't going to happen, but he was still pissed to know that she was that close to his enemy. "I don't care what you do Johnny, just go over there and keep Elizabeth away from David McGinley."

Johnny was glad that Jason could only hear him and not see him. He was sure that his boss would not appreciate Johnny rolling his eyes at Jason's demand.

Right when Johnny was about to walk over towards Elizabeth and the rest of the McGinley's family, having no idea what the hell he was going to say, someone intercepted him.

"Do I know you?"

Johnny squared his shoulders and turned to look at the man who posed the question. He hadn't seen the other man before, Johnny knew that. But with just one look, he also knew that he was a guard in the McGinley organization. "Can't say you do." Extending his hand, Johnny looked the other man in the eye; anything to ease the skepticism in the other mans eyes. "John."

The other man looked at him, then his hand, then back at Johnny. Johnny knew that he was waiting for him to tell him his last name, but Johnny feigned ignorance and waited for the man to shake his hand. Finally, he did. "Tony. How do you know my employer?"

Johnny knew what he was supposed to say, but he hoped that he wouldn't have to have this conversation at all that night. "I'm in the import/export business. I own a few warehouses and being that your boss is new to town, I was invited, most likely, in hopes that I would do business with him."

Johnny held his ground throughout his entire explanation. But inside, he was a bit nervous, not of the man, but of slipping up. He was a guard, someone who watched over Sonny, Jason, and their families. He usually didn't speak, unless it was with his fists. He was finally given an important job, and he didn't want to screw it up. The heavy weight of his gun in his holster did a lot to ease his growing nerves.

Tony eyed Johnny a bit before what looked like a smile appeared across his hard face. Tony brought lifted his large hand and ran it through his black hair. To Johnny, the man wore so much get in order to hold his hair back that it looked like a big grease ball. "That's what most everyone is here for." Tony looked away from Johnny when a blonde man called his name and promptly left Johnny there, but not before he looked back at him, eyeing him one more time.

Once Tony was gone, Johnny breathed a sigh of relief and remembered Jason's order to be by Elizabeth's side.

* * *

"Elizabeth, I would like you to meet my family." Gesturing to the three people who surrounded them, Sebastian pointed out each person as he said their name, keeping a slight hold on Elizabeth hand. "This is my sister Danielle, my brother Jonathan, and my father David McGinley."

Elizabeth felt nervous for some reason as Sebastian pointed out each of his family members. Danielle looked as bored as Elizabeth felt, Jonathan looked like he wanted to be anywhere else in the world than in Port Charles, and Mr. McGinley gave her a warm smile that made her feel welcomed. Something that quickly died down once she remembered Jason's warning that this man was dangerous and an enemy. "It's nice to meet you all. Sebastian has told me a lot about all of you."

"I'm sure he has." Danielle spoke to Elizabeth with a smile on her face, but her tone was snippy, making Elizabeth dislike the girl admittedly before she continued. "Where did you meet my brother again? I can't seem to remember."

"Danielle." Sebastian's warning tone did not deter his sister from politely putting Elizabeth down.

"Oh wait, I remember. You two met in a bar, how…becoming." With a flip of her wrist, sending her flaming red hair over her shoulder, Danielle looked Elizabeth up and down once more before she looked at her two brothers and father, successfully making Elizabeth's thoughts about not belonging come true. "You really know how to pick them Sebastian."

"Danielle that is enough out of you."

"Oh daddy, you're thinking the same thing that I am." She rolled her eyes. "Really, do we have to make small talk, this is so boring. Can't I just leave; no one here is going to miss me?"

Elizabeth couldn't help but let a bitter thought run through her mind as to why anyone wouldn't miss that ray of sunshine. She looked up to Sebastian, waiting for him to defend her in anyway, but just saw him stare at his sister with anger. Elizabeth sighed and shifted uncomfortably when Mr. McGinley spoke instead of Sebastian.

"You will not be rude to your brother's guest. There is no need to take your spoiled attitude out on her because you are bored."

Her blue eyes turned to slits as she looked at her father. Than in a blink of an eye, she smiled at Elizabeth and patted her upper arm as she spoke. "My father is right. I'm sorry Elizabeth, but I am terribly bored and took it out on you."

Elizabeth let her appearance seem like she accepted the other woman's apology, but deep down she called her a bitch and new that she was lying through her teeth.

Jonathan finally spoke, and when he did, Elizabeth had wished that he continued to stay quiet for he made her feel even more uncomfortable. "Whether or not Danielle is being her bitchy self or not, neither her nor Elizabeth should be here." He looked at Elizabeth, ran his eyes over her and seemed to linger on her chest, making Elizabeth shrug out of Sebastian's hold and cross her arms over her chest. "As nice as is it to meet you Elizabeth, this party is really not a social event. I'm sure my brother made it sound like the party of the year, but this is more for business."

Turning to Sebastian, Jonathan shook his head at his younger brother's naïve behavior. "I don't know how you are going to be able to take over and be my partner when…" looking at Elizabeth again, Jonathan quickly ended his statement short. "Your obviously still too young to understand the importance of everything."

Sebastian, who didn't seem to notice Elizabeth's growing frustration and annoyance, seethed at his brother. "I don't see why you always try to act so superior towards me." Finally looking down at Elizabeth who still stood at his side, Sebastian looked at her with apologetic eyes, telling her all that he could with his silence that he honestly didn't know his family was going to be so rude.

"Maybe because I understand what my role is and-"

"Enough." David McGinley spoke quietly but with force ending his eldest son's argument. "I have never been more ashamed of the three of you. Here we are, in the middle of a party with one of our guests standing right here, and the three of you are carrying on as if our house was empty." Turning his soft brown eyes towards Elizabeth, Mr. McGinley apologized for his children's behavior.

"It's ok." A forceful laugh escaped from Elizabeth. "I have an older sister and we are always fighting at the wrong times." She tried to ease the situation but one look at Danielle as she rolled her eyes, at Jonathan as he shook his head and continued to look at his younger brother with anger, and at Sebastian as he looked away, almost ashamed, and Elizabeth knew she didn't ease the situation. "Excuse me for a moment, I'm just going to step outside and look around."

"Of course." Mr. McGinley smiled warmly at her as she returned his smile and walked away. Once she was out of ear shot, he turned his angry face and berated his children. "Danielle, I do not know what is wrong with you but you had no right to be so rude to her. And Jonathan, you need to cool off and stop thinking about the business all the time-"

"But this party-"

"I am not done." David glared at his eldest child and son. "I know that this party is an opening to talk to other business associates but this is our first party and we want to give off the appeal of a happy family, willing to do anything for each other. Arguing with your brother is not going to help. And Sebastian, I was more than happy to allow you to bring a guest, who happens to be very lovely, but you should have made her feel more welcomed, not jumped at your brothers bate for a fight." Tsking, David continued, "Now she is out there by herself and feeling very uncomfortable."

"I know." Sebastian glared at his brother and sister for making that happen before he looked at his father with sorry eyes. "I'm going to go outside and apologize for my sibling's behavior and hope that she doesn't demand me to take her home and never speak to me again. I hope the two of you are happy," he said as he glared back at his siblings before he walked away and followed Elizabeth outside.

* * *

"Shit."

"What?"

Johnny flinched as Jason's voice boomed in through his ear piece. He really needed to remember that the temperamental enforcer was listening to everything he said. Glancing around to see if anyone was looking, Johnny regrettably answered his boss. "She's gone."

"What do you mean she's gone?" Jason all but shouted, punching the arm rest on the door of the limo.

A couple passed Johnny, making him stall in his answer to Jason. He smiled at the woman as she looked at him with a frown at his unusual behavior as he pressed the heel of his hand to his ear, flinching when Jason asked his question again, louder. "I went to go and talk to them, but one of the McGinley's guards stopped me and when I turned around she was gone."

"You turned your back on her?" Again, Jason's voice was close to a shout.

"I wasn't going to talk to the guard with my back to him," Johnny snapped back as he crossed his arms over his chest and rested his chin in his hand, hoping to hide his moving lips. He was growing more attention from the people around him and he was growing uncomfortable.

Sighing, Jason rubbed his forehead, wanting nothing more than to charge into the party, find Elizabeth, and take her with him. Far away from the McGinley's and mostly, Sebastian, "Just find her Johnny and let us know when you do."

His voice was lower this time when he spoke to Johnny. Jason was really starting to get annoyed with his lack of control in the situation. It didn't help any of them if he continued to snap at Johnny. And although the man was there to watch after Elizabeth, he was also there to get any information he could on their newest enemy.

Jason sighed and sat back in his chair, waiting for word from Johnny.

* * *

She was standing in the white gazebo, staring out on the garden full with flowers and plants when Sebastian walked up the three steps and joined her. When she walked out of the house, she passed their enormous pool, walked along the stone walkway that led a trail through the garden and stepped inside the gazebo. Their backyard reminded her of the rest of the house, huge and somewhere she didn't belong.

"I'm sorry."

Elizabeth knew that Sebastian was there even though her back was turned to him. But when he spoke, she finally turned around and acknowledged his presence. She didn't give him a bright smile, but she did give a soft smile, telling him that it was ok. "Like I said before, I have a sister and we fight all the time."

"That doesn't excuse what happened in there." Stepping closer to Elizabeth, Sebastian reached for her hands before he continued. He rubbed his thumbs back and forth over the tops of her slightly chilled hands. "My sister is just a bitch who needs to be the center of attention." He gave her a killer smile, "She doesn't like it when someone looks better than her and with just one look at you, she knew that you looked more beautiful than any other woman in that room, including her."

Elizabeth blushed slightly at his words and couldn't help but shiver when a gust of wind entered the gazebo, blowing a strand of hair across her forehead.

Sebastian quickly shrugged out of his jacket and placed it over her shoulder's. He then tucked the hair that flew into her face behind her ear right before she had the chance to. "Jonathan is just a jerk and is jealous because I brought the most beautiful woman to the party."

"Sebastian-"

"Don't try to deny it Elizabeth," his thumb ran across her cheek as his fingers combed through her hair. "I knew from the moment that I met you that you were the most beautiful woman that I had ever laid eyes on."

His head moved closer as he stared into her wide eyes. "You are also interesting and funny and I enjoy your company more than I have anyone's in a long time."

His thumb touched the corner of her mouth before he lowered his head the rest of the way and covered her mouth with his. For a moment Elizabeth was completely stunned into a stupor. She didn't move or close her eyes or even return his kiss. She just stood there as Sebastian kissed her lightly and pressed on with more pressure when she did not respond. When he angled his head over hers, Elizabeth finally snapped out of her shock and pushed against his chest.

He looked at her with confusion as she backed away from him. "I'm sorry Sebastian, but that should not have happened."

"Why?" He looked stricken and hurt by her rejection.

"You are a really nice guy and I enjoy your company, but…"

"I see."

"I'm sorry." Elizabeth couldn't stand looking at his hurt expression any longer. "I-I need… I'm going to go to the restroom, and then maybe I should go home."

Sebastian reached out and grabbed her arm as she walked past him, "I'm sorry that I made you uncomfortable, but the party is still going on for a few more hours, maybe we could just forget about what happened." His cheeks were most likely as red as hers with embarrassment.

"I don't know." His hopeful eyes dimmed and Elizabeth felt horrible. "I just need to go to the restroom and I'll be out in a moment, then we'll see what happens."

Sebastian smiled slightly at her as she walked away, but his smile fell when the jacket that was placed around her shoulders fell to the floor as she walked away, never once turning back to pick it up.

It seemed she couldn't get away from him fast enough.

* * *

"Shit."

"What? Johnny? What happened?" Jason's voice was urgent as he waited for Johnny to speak.

The guard stood still as he watched Sebastian kiss Elizabeth in the garden gazebo. He had half a mind to turn around, embarrassed for watching the two, but he stood still with his eyes wide and his mouth agape.

"Johnny?" Jason's voice had returned to the booming voice that was really starting to irritate Johnny. He was about to answer his boss when he watched Elizabeth push Sebastian away from her. Johnny was ready to charge to the gazebo if the younger man dared to advance on Elizabeth again, but Johnny stayed in his spot by the pool as Elizabeth practically ran from Sebastian, leaving the poor sucker with a stricken look.

"Johnny!"

"Fuck." Jason's voice was so loud and piercing that Johnny ripped the ear piece out of his ear with such force that it flung out of his hand and landed in the pool. Eyes wide, Johnny looked around almost frantic. He quickly scooped the ear piece out of the pool, dried it on his suit jacket before putting it back in his ear. Instead of hearing Jason's angry voice, Johnny heard static.

Knowing that Stan and Jason could still hear him, Johnny spoke into his chest as he looked towards the doors Elizabeth had walked trough, not the same doors she walked out of. "Something is wrong with my ear piece and I can't hear you, but Elizabeth just left Sebastian out in the garden and went inside the house in a hurry. I'm going to follow her and see what happened." He didn't dare tell Jason that he saw her kissing another man, or that he was the reason his ear piece wasn't working.

Johnny was lucky his ear piece wasn't working, because if it were he would have heard Jason swear loud at the turn of events. Jason turned his cold angry eyes on Stan. "What the hell happened to his ear piece, I thought we had state of the art crap."

"We do." Even though Jason tone and expression was deadly, Stan didn't back down from the enforcer. He took a pride in his electronics and couldn't come up with a reason as to why it had malfunctioned. "Maybe if you stopped yelling in Johnny's ear, it wouldn't have broken."

"Are you-?"

Johnny's voice broke in through their argument. "Elizabeth?" There was a slight pause before they heard his voice again. "What are you doing in here?" another pause, "Are you ok, why are you crying?"

Jason's eyes opened wide at Johnny's last question and before he listened for the answer, Jason was out of the limo and walking with sure steps towards the McGinley's house. He walked towards the back of the house, sure to keep in the shadows as he entered the house with one thought on his mind: Find Elizabeth and leave with her, unnoticed.

* * *

Elizabeth walked with quick steps towards the direction of the bathroom. She remembered where it was from the tour Sebastian gave her earlier, and when she rounded the corner frustration bubbled up as she saw several people standing outside the door, obviously waiting to use the restroom. She held her head high, not wanting to think about what happened in the garden as she tried to think of where to go.

She looked around the open entry way of the McGinley's house and decided to go upstairs. The house was big enough that there had to be more than just two bathrooms downstairs. She looked around, and then finally ascended the staircase, lifting the hem of her dress so that she wouldn't trip. With each step she took, another tear threatened to spill.

She wasn't ready for this. It was too soon.

How could she allow another man to kiss her? She felt bad enough going out on a date with him, but to actually have him kiss her made her feel like she had done something terribly wrong. She knew Lucky was dead and wouldn't come back. But he had been the only person that she had ever kissed, and when Sebastian kissed her, she felt as if she betrayed Lucky's memory. He was her everything and she was growing stronger each day, but it was too soon to move on.

She made it to the top of the stairs and didn't even bother to look for the bathroom, the first door that she passed, she looked in and saw that it was a study of some sort, odd that they had two offices in one house, but nevertheless, Elizabeth stepped inside and let her first tear fall.

Sebastian was a nice guy, but she couldn't bear the thought of kissing him ever again. She didn't allow herself to think that she would move on one day and that she would, of course, kiss another. It was too painful and instead of thoughts of needing to move on, she thought of her first kiss with Lucky at the boxcar.

Tears spilled from her eyes as she remembered how they had tried to kiss before that night, but she was still too scared to even kiss another person after her rape. She didn't even try to wipe her tears away as her shoulders shook with silent sobs as she remembered each and every kiss Lucky granted her with.

Sebastian wasn't the first person to kiss her since Lucky died. Nicholas had kissed her on her eighteenth birthday, but Elizabeth knew he was trying to be there for her in place of Lucky, he was trying to help her. Nicholas wasn't kissing her with just romantic feelings, but Sebastian was.

She was so angry with herself for letting Sebastian kiss her, that she didn't hear the door open. Tears were still running down her face with no hope of stopping when she heard a familiar voice call out her name. She didn't answer who she now knew to be Johnny when he asked her what she was doing there. When she finally turned around to look at him, his confused expression turned into a sympathetic one when he pulled her into a brotherly hugged and asked her what was wrong and why was she crying.

She hugged him, and when her tears stopped flowing, she tried to answer him before she was interrupted by an angry voice.

"What the hell are you two doing up here?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Both Elizabeth and Johnny froze at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. Elizabeth's head was deeply buried in the Johnny's neck and when she tried to look over his shoulder to see who was standing in the doorway, Johnny tightened his arms around her, silently ordering her to not move.

When the man asked the question again, Johnny recognized his voice as the man who confronted him earlier downstairs. For once, Johnny wished that he was a clever man. In any other situation he would have just turned around and beat Tony's face in, but he couldn't do that. Elizabeth was in the room and he was undercover. He knew Sonny shouldn't have given him the job. If Sonny needed him to take someone out, hide a body, then he was the man for the job. But this undercover shit was not for him, and once he figured out a way to get him and Elizabeth out of there, he was going to go straight to Sonny and demand, nicely, to never be given an assignment like this again. Francis was better at the undercover assignments anyway.

"Hey, buddy. If you're trying to get laid tonight, find another place to sweet talk the lady. This room is off limits."

Johnny felt Elizabeth's body stiffen at Tony's remarks. When he looked down at her face he could see the fire in her eyes. She seemed pissed at the mans assumptions and was about to let him know how rude he was until Johnny slightly shook his head and gave her a look that told her to not say a word.

Tony had given them the perfect out. Not turning around to look at him, Johnny cleared his throat and maintained eye contact with Elizabeth. "Sorry about that man. We'll leave." Elizabeth's eyes turned into slits silently letting Johnny know that she didn't like the fact that he was allowing the man to think that she was some type of hussy. Johnny held his exasperation with her in when realized that she really didn't know the danger they were in.

Johnny met her glare with one of his own before he turned to look at the man with Elizabeth safely tucked into his side. He was hoping that his big build would conceal her face from Tony. He didn't want the guard to know who he was with. When they went to make their way around the guard, Tony used his large body to block the opened doorway. He was staring at Johnny, but then turned his attention to peaking around Johnny to get a good look at Elizabeth.

Johnny recognized the look in his eyes. Tony looked suspicious and that made him nervous. Suspicion never led to anything but trouble.

Just as the thought ran through his mind, Tony looked back to Johnny. "I know you."

Laughing nervously, Johnny patted Elizabeth's arm when she pinched his side. Her face was squashed in-between his muscular arm and side. Damn she was stubborn. "We met downstairs earlier."

"No. I know you from somewhere else." Tony was scratching his chin in concentration as he stared at Johnny. He didn't dare look away from Tony's face. Johnny knew that if he looked away it would only make the guard's suspicion grow.

Elizabeth was growing annoyed of being tucked into Johnny's side for so long. The man was practically cutting off her supply of oxygen he was squeezing her so tight. She tried to pinch him to make him let go of her, even if it was just a little. She knew from the look that Johnny gave her that he felt they were in danger. She hadn't known that Johnny was at the party and could only conclude that he was the one Jason sent to watch over her and learn more about the McGinley's. She suddenly felt awful because she was the one who put the two of them in the situation when she ran upstairs to cry. She trusted Johnny to handle the situation, but if the guard blocking their way didn't move soon, she was going to have to try to talk them out of the mess.

She was sure that she could come up with something. That was, of course, if she didn't die of suffocation first. She couldn't take Johnny's strong hold any longer and did the only thing she could think of to gain his attention.

She bit him.

A little harder than she intended to, but she honestly could not breathe any longer. At Johnny's howl of pain and surprise, he let up his hold on her and put his hand to the bite mark on his side. He glared at her as she tried to take in much needed air without being too noticeable. She figured it would look odd to the man standing in the doorway if she took in gulps of air.

It was when Johnny turned his head to glare down at Elizabeth that Tony finally recognized him.

Tony knew he had seen John before, but it wasn't until the man turned and Tony got a good look at his profile that he remembered. He was one of the men in the files that his boss David McGinley gave his guards to look through. The files contained the police records of all the men in Sonny Corinthos organization. Tony didn't give any warning to John before he pulled out his gun from his shoulder holster and pointed it at them. "I know who you are. You work for Sonny Corinthos."

Johnny turned to look at the man and noticed the gun pointed at him and Elizabeth. He reached for her with his arm again and pulled her behind him, using his body as a shield. He didn't hide her behind him fast enough for her to not see who the man was. When she finally had a full view of his face before Johnny pulled her behind him she immediately recognized him as the man from the other night at Jake's. The one who was in the back ally of Kelly's discussing with another man their orders to take out Sonny and Jason, the one who was supposed to meet his boss at Jake's to discuss their plan to take down two of her friend's. She became angry at her realization.

The man standing before her and Johnny worked for the McGinley's. Worked for Sebastian, who, a fact that didn't slip her mind, she met a Jake's. Jason told her about how his family was a threat. She just never put two and two together. She was so angry with herself for not listening to Jason, angry with Sebastian for wanting to hurt her friends. But she let her anger subside for the moment when she peaked through Johnny's arm to look at the man and the gun he pointed at them. Fear took over anger.

"You're coming with me." When Johnny didn't budge, Tony raised his gun for emphasis and shouted. "Now."

Johnny still didn't move. His hand was gripping Elizabeth's upper arm from her position behind his back. "Remove your hands from the little lady and put them up where I can see them."

Johnny had to think of the safety of Elizabeth. If she weren't there he would attack the man head on, but he needed to protect Elizabeth first. This was what he was good at, protecting his charges, guarding them. Slowly, Johnny removed his hand from her arm and put them up, showing the man he wasn't holding a weapon.

Tony didn't show any reaction. He titled his head to the side to try and look at Elizabeth. He still couldn't see her. Tony raised his gun a bit higher and spoke to Johnny as he continued to try and see who was behind him. "Move away from the woman."

"Can't do that."

Johnny was waiting for the perfect moment. Tony was preoccupied with finding out who was behind him that he was once again giving Johnny the perfect opportunity to gain the upper hand. He saw a flicker of movement in the shadows behind Tony and looked over the guards shoulder to see what it was. He didn't show any outward reaction to seeing Jason standing in the shadows, ready to attack when the moment came. He did feel a bit more relieved at having the backup.

"I said move away from the woman." Tony's voice became lethal. Johnny wasn't the least bit intimidated but he did feel the bite of Elizabeth's nails on his back as she griped onto his jacket in obvious fear.

Jason had been watching the scene before him since before the man pulled his gun on Elizabeth and Johnny. When he first looked into the open door and saw Elizabeth in Johnny's arms he didn't like the feeling that ran through him. He quickly suppressed the feeling and focused on the problem before him. He waited to see if Johnny and Elizabeth could get out of the room without making a scene but when the man recognized Johnny and pulled his gun, Jason knew it wasn't going to happen and needed to wait for the right moment to act.

Fury ran through him at the sight of a gun being pointed at Elizabeth. He couldn't see her face anymore but he could see her shoes from beneath her dress behind Johnny's spread feet. Johnny's body was so much larger than Elizabeth's that it blocked her completely from view. His eyes connected with Johnny's and the two of them made a silent agreement. It was time to take matters into their own hands.

Tony moved, forcing the both of them to stay where they were. Jason muscles strained in preparation to move forward and take control of the situation, but he still held back because Tony still had his gun trained on Johnny. One wrong move and either Johnny or Elizabeth could get hurt. Jason had the upper hand with Tony not knowing he was there, but he couldn't act rash.

Jason saw that Tony was about to reach for Elizabeth and decided that he needed to act. Slowly, he moved into the room, pulled his gun out and let Tony feel the cold steel on the back of his neck. "Drop your gun."

Elizabeth recognized Jason's voice instantly but couldn't see him because Johnny was still standing in front of her. Relief washed over her at the knowledge that Jason was there. It wasn't that she didn't feel safe with Johnny, because she did, but just knowing Jason was there made her know that everything was going to be all right. She wasn't stupid, she still knew they were in danger, but she still felt safe.

Tony didn't move. Jason pressed his gun deeper into the man's neck. Tony heard the sound of the safety being flipped and reacted. He slammed his body back into Jason's, knocking the both of them off balance for a moment. His arm that held his gun was still extended in the air and he pulled the trigger as he pushed Jason back with as much strength as he could muster.

The gun was still aimed at Johnny when it went off, but because of the struggle Tony was going through with Jason, the bullet hit Johnny's shoulder rather than his chest. Elizabeth heard the gunshot and the grunts as Jason and Tony fought. She tried to peak around Johnny again but he stopped her when he turned around and quickly shoved her behind the desk telling her not to move. He was about to walk away when she saw the red stain on his shoulder and clasped a hand over her mouth. "Johnny, you've been shot." He looked down at her as she sat under the desk before he looked at his shoulder. Grimacing at the pain, Johnny looked up to see Jason push Tony against the wall, prying the gun out of his hand as he punched Tony's stomach. He knew Jason had the situation under control, but when he saw another man run into the doorway he cursed.

He was about to intercept the other man when he felt Elizabeth's death grip on his calf. He looked down at her again; saw the concern for him in her eyes. "It's nothing, just stay here." She was reluctant, but she finally let go of his leg and remained under the desk, pulling the desk chair in front of her and under the desk as much as she could.

The desk around her shook and she was sure that one of the men had just been thrown on top of it. She hugged her knees to her chest as she prayed that Jason and Johnny would be ok. The wait was killing her. She didn't know what was going on as both Johnny and Jason fought with the two men. All she could hear was grunting and hissing. The desk shook again as whoever was thrown on top was pulled off. Papers fell to the floor around her feet. A name on a slip of paper caught her attention and she quickly picked it up and began to read it. There wasn't much information on the paper, just two names and a date. Elizabeth secured that information she read in her mind to tell Jason when they got out of there.

"Fuck, Jason, there's more coming." Johnny's strained voice reached her, making her worry even more for him. He had just been shot and now he had to fight off these men.

Jason punched Tony one more time before he threw him out of the office. The man Johnny was fighting followed Tony and fell on top of him when Johnny threw him out the door. Jason closed the door to the office and locked it, giving them time before the men crashed through the doors. He had to act quickly. He and Johnny could fight off the men, but they had Elizabeth to think about, and they didn't know how many men were coming. They had obviously heard the commotion and came to see what was going on.

Jason was breathing heavily as he searched the office for a means of escape. He saw the window behind the desk and knew that they were going to have to leave through it. He rushed over to the desk, moved the office chair out of his way and crouched down, knowing Elizabeth was there.

She was hugging her knees to her chest but when she saw Jason she threw herself in his arms. "Thank God you're all right. You are all right right? I couldn't see what was going on… I just heard… I was scared that you were hurt." He squeezed her and closed his eyes in relief. Her voice trembled a bit when she spoke and as much as he wanted to reassure her that everything was all right, they needed to get out of there first.

Jason pulled back from Elizabeth and cupped her face between his large palms. He searched her face for a moment, needing to know that she wasn't hurt. He spoke to her in a calm voice after he gained his reassurance. "We need to get out of here Elizabeth. We're going to have to go through the window."

She said nothing but nodded her head when she realized he was waiting for her to acknowledge what he had just told her. Jason grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. They both made their way to the window that Johnny had already opened and was looking out of. "No one is outside right now, but we have to hurry. It won't be long before men are all over this place," he paused to look at Jason, "Inside and out."

"Alright." Nodding, Jason moved past Johnny to look out the window. They were on the second floor which meant they were going to have to either jump or try to climb down. Jason noticed flowers and leafy vines weaving in and out of a checkered structure running up the side of the house. He reached out and pulled, found out it was secured to the outside wall and decided that was how they were going to get down. He turned back to look at Johnny and Elizabeth and found her lifting Johnny's arm up, fingering his wound. "I'll go down first, then Elizabeth, then you." He noticed the look on Elizabeth's face and focused his full attention on her. "We'll be fine."

"I know."

They heard the banging on the door and knew they had to get out of their quickly. Jason pulled himself out of the window and grabbed onto the makeshift ladder holding the flowers. Jason climbed down halfway before he jumped to the ground. Once his feet hit the grass he looked up to see Johnny helping Elizabeth out of the window.

She secured herself and began to climb down when her shoe caught on her dress. She tried to tug her foot free, but when she went to get her footing again she slipped. Elizabeth tried to grab onto a vine before she fell, but it snapped. As she fell backwards her hands scrapped against the side of the house as she tried to find something to hold onto. She didn't have a chance to scream as she fell back, but fortunately for her Jason was at the bottom, ready to catch her.

He caught her around the waist as her back hit his chest almost knocking the wind out of him. The momentum of her fall almost knocked the both of them off of their feet, but Jason stopped them from falling to the ground. He slowly lowered her to the ground. But when her feet touched and she was sure that she was steady enough to stand on her own he didn't let go of her.

"Are you ok?"

His voice was a gruff whisper near her ear. Knowing that they had to be quiet Elizabeth nodded her head to let him know she was fine. Johnny made his way out the window and just like Jason; he only climbed down halfway before he jumped the rest of the way.

The trio made their way to where the limo and Jason's bike were. Both men walked with fast, large steps as Jason held onto Elizabeth's hand to make sure she kept up with them, making her practically run in order to do just that. As they turned the corner of the house the limo came to view when they heard the shouting behind them. Jason hoped that because of the darkness they wouldn't be noticeable, but he still quickened his steps.

When a shot whizzed past his head, their quick steps turned into a full run. More shots rang out as the trio ran to the limo. They were close to the limo when Elizabeth tripped over her dress as the heel of her shoe broke. Jason had a tight grip of her hand, not letting her fall completely to the hard asphalt as they ran across the circle drive way, but she still scraped her knee before Jason pulled her back up.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her off of her feet as he blindly shot behind him. He looked towards Johnny and found him doing the same thing. They were so close to the limo now and Jason could see Stan in the driver's seat behind the bullet proof windows, ready to peal away when they got there.

Bullets kept flying and when Jason heard Elizabeth's startled scream he finally threw the two of them to the ground behind a limo, covering her body with his. His hands covered her head as he looked towards their limo and saw Johnny using the door as his shield as he shot back at the men. Jason was about to stand, using the front of the limo as his shield, and shoot at the men when Johnny's shout reached him.

"Get her the hell out of here!"

Jason looked down to Elizabeth, back towards Johnny and saw his bike parked right next to the limo. Johnny was going to fight off the men while Jason got Elizabeth got out of there. "When we make it to the bike, get the hell out of here Johnny!"

Jason didn't wait for Johnny's answer. He pulled Elizabeth to her feet, wrapped his arm around her waist again and hauled her to his bike. When they climbed on the bike, Elizabeth gave herself enough time to wonder why Jason climbed on behind her until she realized he was using his body to shield hers, just like he had been doing since they got into the mess.

A bullet hit the ground right by Jason's foot causing a spray of dirt to erupt as he started the engine and pulled away from the McGinley property. "Hold onto the handles real tight." He shouted over the roar of the engine. He took one hand off of the handles and looked over his shoulder. He saw Johnny throw himself into the back of the limo as Stan peeled out of the drive. Jason saw one man come out from behind a car and shot him in the shoulder before the man had a chance to shoot the limo tires.

He turned back to focus on driving, placing his hands on top of Elizabeth's. He still didn't feel safe when they were far enough away from the McGinley property. Johnny and Stan had separated from them once they had the chance. It wasn't safe for the two vehicles to travel together.

Elizabeth was so shaken up over the encounter her entire body wouldn't stop trembling. She tried to ward it off as being cold, but she couldn't feel anything at the moment.

She felt numb.

When she felt Jason circle his arm around her waist to pull her back towards him, she finally relaxed and leaned back, resting against his warm chest and strength. He took hold of the handles again when he felt her relax against him. They were driving on a secluded road near the woods. Elizabeth turned her head on his shoulder to watch as the trees turned into a mesh of green as they sped by.

"Are you all right?" He had to shout over the sound of the engine and the wind.

She didn't know if she was all right. She really couldn't feel anything, but she knew she wasn't severely hurt. Even if she was, they couldn't do anything about it until they were safe.

"I-I…" she had to clear her throat to gain the strength she needed to speak. Elizabeth knew Jason couldn't hear her whisper over the wind, _she_ couldn't even hear herself. When she felt as though she could speak over the noise, she turned her head up towards Jason. "I'm fine."

He didn't look down at her just nodded. They continued to drive for another half-an-hour before Jason stopped and switched positions with Elizabeth. It was harder to steer with her sitting in front of him and he felt it was safe to have her behind him. When they remounted the bike, not staying in their spot for too long due to safety reason, Elizabeth wrapped her arms tightly around Jason's waist and leaned the side of her face against his back. She closed her eyes, knowing that Jason would take them to safety.

They drove for another two hours before Jason finally stopped at a run down gas station to refuel his bike. One hour later and they finally stopped for the night. Elizabeth had her eyes closed for most of the ride and was surprised to see that they were in the middle of the woods when she opened her eyes. Her body was soar from the long ride and she felt like she couldn't walk when Jason helped her down from the bike. Jason felt how she slumped against him and kept his arm around her waist as they made their way to the front door.

"Where are we?" Her voice sounded groggy and weak. She tried to clear her throat but grimaced when she found it too dry to clear.

"We're at one of mine and Sonny's safe houses."

Entering the code to the alarm that would allow him to open the door, Jason stepped inside first when the door unlocked and he opened it. He didn't notice anything out of the ordinary and turned on the table side lamp. He pulled Elizabeth in behind him then turned and locked the door, setting the alarm again.

Elizabeth took in her surroundings of the cozy little cabin. They stood in the small living room that housed nothing but a foldout couch and a leather chair. It was odd to think that Sonny owned the small home, his penthouse was so large and extravagant. He was a man who liked the finer things in life. Shaking her head, Elizabeth remembered that this wasn't Sonny's home, this was a place to hide out, a safe house.

Jason gave Elizabeth the small tour of the safe house. Even though it was just the two of them, he kept her by his side at all times with his arm wrapped around her waist. The living room lead into a small kitchen that had counters lining the wall, a refrigerator, and a table that sat no more than three comfortably. There was a door at the other side of the kitchen which Jason told her lead to the bathroom.

Elizabeth leaned against the counter and reached down to take her shoes off. One heel was completely broken and she just hoped that Emily wouldn't be too upset. Elizabeth almost laughed out loud at that thought. Emily wouldn't care about the shoes. She would be too busy pumping Elizabeth for as much information about the party and the shoot out to worry about her shoes.

Jason watched as Elizabeth slipped her shoes off. Her dress had torn all the way to her knee allowing him to see the large scrape she received from falling on the ground. She looked tired and vulnerable causing Jason to curse inside. She shouldn't have been at that party.

"Here," grabbing a hold of her arm, Jason steered her towards the table. "Sit down while I get the first aid kit and make a call."

Elizabeth was too tired to fight him and sat down without protest, crossing her arms on top of the table, resting her head on the crook of her elbow. She closed her eyes as she waited for Jason.

Jason pulled out his cell phone and called Sonny. He was told that Johnny and Stan had already checked in and were at a safe house closer to Port Charles so that Johnny could get medical attention for his gun shot wound. They were brief in their conversation. Jason told Sonny which safe house they were at and told him to put guards at the Brownstone. He was sure that McGinley would search for Elizabeth and wanted to make sure that Bobbie would be ok. He also asked Sonny to watch out for Audrey Hardy and his sister, just in case. They hung up when Sonny told Jason that he would call with further news.

Jason found the first-aid kit under the sink in the bathroom and headed back towards the table, finally sitting down next to Elizabeth. Her eyes were closed but he knew she wasn't sleeping. When she felt the material of her dress being pulled away from her legs she sat up straight and gave Jason a confused look. It wasn't until she felt a pain shoot up her leg when the dress clung to her knee that she realized what he was doing.

"How bad is it?"

He shook his head. "Not too bad." He lifted her leg and set her foot on top of his thigh. His thumb moved back and forth over the soft skin of her calf as he poured the peroxide over her knee. He laughed when she hissed and slapped his arm.

"It's not funny, that hurts."

"Sorry."

"Try sounding like your sorry and I'll believe you."

He cleaned her knee before he began to wipe away the liquid on her leg. His finger skimmed her scrape causing him to laugh again when she hit him once more. He looked at her and smiled even more at her sour expression.

"Sorry, but I'm not the best patient. I don't like pain."

"I don't think anyone does."

He was mocking her. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to sound upset but couldn't because of the amusement in her voice. "Hey, you weren't the best patient either, remember?"

"I was shot, that's different."

Her head feel back as she laughed. "Your right." Sighing, Elizabeth straightened in the chair as Jason took her hands and began to tend to the scrapes on her fingers from when she fell out of the window. "How long do you think we are going to have to stay here?"

He didn't pause as he continued to clean her small cuts. "A couple of days, maybe more. I just didn't want to take you home yet. One of them could have been following us and I wanted to make sure we lost them before we stopped."

"Do you think they'll come after us?"

He placed her hand back down in her lap. Her leg was still lying across his thigh and when he placed his hand down on her leg again his thumb took over its previous motion of rubbing back and forth. "Yes. They know that Sonny had someone inside the house and when they realize that you left with us their either going to think we took you or-"

"Or I was working with you." A sudden thought entered her mind causing her to worry. "Do you think they will go after my Grams? Oh, Jason, Sebastian knows where I am staying, do you think they will do something to Bobbie?"

"I all ready took care of it."

"When you talked to Sonny?"

"Yes."

"Did he say anything about Johnny?"

"Yes, he's fine."

"Good." Elizabeth suddenly felt way too tired to worry about anything else. All she wanted to do was take a long shower and go to sleep. "Do you think I could take a shower?"

"Sure." They both stood up at the same time. Jason towered over Elizabeth as their eyes locked. He cleared his throat after what felt like several minutes, but was only a couple of seconds, before he spoke. "I know you don't have anything to wear, and we don't have anything here, but you could wear my shirt when you come out. It'll be big enough."

"Ok." She still didn't move. For some reason she couldn't. She was standing so close to Jason and for some reason she couldn't think. She finally gained some sense and nodded her head before she tore her gaze away from his and walked towards the bathroom door. She had made it one step when she felt Jason's hands on her bare shoulders. A shiver ran down her spine when he moved his hand over her right shoulder in a soft caress.

"Does this hurt?"

She had no idea what he was talking about. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Jason staring at her back with a look of concern. She tried to get a better look at what he was concentrating on and saw the beginning of a bruise forming on her back and shoulder. "I didn't even notice. It'll probably hurt in the morning."

"I'm sorry." He looked up at her and when their eyes connected Elizabeth could see the concern in his eyes.

"For what?" They were alone, but it didn't stop her from speaking on a breathless whisper. He was standing so close behind her that she could feel his warmth surrounding her. She also had to lean her head all the way back to look at him as he towered over her.

"When I threw you on the ground you must have landed on your shoulder."

He sounded angry with himself for hurting her. She turned around, placed her hands on his biceps and shook her head. "You were protecting me Jason. I'll be fine."

He nodded his head and stepped back from her. "Do you want something to eat or drink when you get out of your shower?"

A smile appeared on her face. "You wouldn't happen to have Hot Chocolate here would you?"

"I don't think so." His smile wasn't as large as hers, but it still held the same amount of amusement. He walked towards the cabinets and opened them until he found coffee mix and tea bags.

"I could go for a cup of tea."

"Ok."

Elizabeth made her way to the bathroom. It wasn't large, but she didn't care at the moment. She stripped out of the dress and looked into the small mirror above the sink. She looked horrible. Her hair was a wild mess around her head, most likely because of the bike ride. She could see the bruise on the top of her shoulder now and grimaced at the pain she would surely feel later. Her knee was throbbing with each step she took, and thankfully for her, the shower wasn't but eight steps away from the sink.

She turned on the water and sighed when she stepped under the hot water. She tried to be quick with the shower, but it was impossible. The water was just too wonderful for her to leave just yet. When the water began to cool and she was down with washing her hair and body, she turned off the shower, grabbed a towel from the hook on the wall and wrapped herself in it.

She went to the door, opened it, and peeked into the kitchen to ask Jason for his shirt. She heard him in the living room and was about to call out to him when she saw the black long sleeved shirt hanging from the doorknob. Smiling, Elizabeth grabbed his shirt, closed the door again, and pulled it over her head.

The shirt ended just above her knees and she had to roll up the sleeves several times in order to free her hands.

Elizabeth hung up her towel and opened the door of the bathroom again to make her way to the living room where she still believed Jason to be. Her hand flew to the base of her throat as she swallowed at the sight before her. Even though she wore his shirt, she still hadn't processed that Jason would be shirtless when she saw him after her shower. Even if she did know, it _shouldn't_ affect her. She had seen him so many times when she changed his bandages. But those thoughts meant nothing. Because for some reason her breath seemed to catch in her throat at the sight of Jason's back as he prepared her tea and his coffee.

He was so muscular and well defined and Elizabeth still couldn't seem to catch her breath. When Jason turned around, spotted her and smiled, one thought raced through her mind.

This was going to be interesting.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"I do not."

Sliding a card towards Elizabeth, Jason tired to conceal his smile. "Yes you do."

She glared at him as she picked up her card. She stared at it for several seconds and when she finally placed it in its rightful place among the other cards that where fanned out between her hands, Jason couldn't conceal his slight chuckle any longer. "You just did it again."

"Oh come on. I do not wrinkle my nose when I have a bad card."

"Yes you do." Placing his elbow on the table, Jason leaned forward as he explained. "Not only do you wrinkle your nose when you have a bad hand, but you bite the inside of your cheek when you think you have a winning hand."

"Oh please." Even as Elizabeth tried to sound defensive, she couldn't help but laugh at their conversation. Inside her mouth, her tongue moved to her tender cheek, felling little crevices of teeth impressions. "Fine, I might wrinkle my nose or bite my cheek to keep from smiling, but you… you do something to."

"What?"

She tried her hardest to think of something he did that would give away the hand he held. A sparkle entered her eyes as the side of her mouth hooked upwards in a smirk. "You frown when you first get a card."

He chuckled. "That doesn't tell you anything."

Slapping her cards facedown on the small kitchen table, Elizabeth crossed her arms under her chest and tried her hardest to glare at him. She only lasted about half of a second before her lips broke out in a huge smile. "Fine, you don't have any unconscious habits. You just sit there like a block of concrete with no emotion on your face."

"It's called a poker face."

"Its no wonder you keep on beating me. You know exactly when to fold or when your hand will be better."

"No, I beat you because you over think and end up throwing away cards that are better than the ones you keep."

"Just remind me to never play poker for real."

He mimicked her position by crossing his arms over his bare chest, making her eyes unconsciously follow his movements. She only stared long enough to appreciate the bulge of his biceps before she snapped her gaze back towards his face once she realized what she was doing.

Head tilted to the side, eyes narrowed, he jutted his chin towards her just once. "We are playing for real. For every game you win, I let you steer when we go riding, and for every game I win…"

When he paused and raised his eyebrows, she rolled her eyes and stomped her foot. "I have to help you with your filing at the warehouse." Her smile faltered as his grew bigger. "You're really not going to make me help, are you?" His chest twitched as he silently chuckled. "You are! Oh come on, this isn't fair. I have no idea how to play poker. The odds are not even."

During her tirade, he placed his elbow back on the table, resting his cheek in his hand, showing no emotion on his face except for the slight twinkle in his eye. "If you won, you were going to make me let you steer."

She stammered for a bit before she shut her mouth and picked her cards back up. She really hoped that he wasn't going to make her work at the warehouse. If there was something that Elizabeth hated the most, it was being cooped up in some stuffy office. She liked to be outdoors, painting or riding Jason's bike. She sorted through her cards and tried her hardest not to give him any sign as to whether her cards were good or not. She did, however, glare at him as he picked his cards back up and continued to chuckle.

The next several minutes passed by in silence and when the time finally came to reveal their hands, Elizabeth fanned hers out first; hope filled her eyes as her breath caught in her throat. He was taking an extremely long time showing his cards and if he didn't stop messing around, Elizabeth was going to throw something at him.

Finally, Jason fanned his cards out, keeping his eyes on her face the entire time as hers were glued to his cards. He waited patiently as she studied his cards with a frown, looking back and forth between her own cards and his, trying to remember all of the rules he told her.

Her gaze finally flew up to meet his. "I won?"

When he smiled and nodded his head, she crossed her arms over the table and leaned forward. "Looks like you owe me one bike ride where I get to steer."

Once again, he mimicked her position and when he leaned in, their faces were inches apart. "And you _still_ owe me seven hours of filing."

Several moments of silence filled the kitchen before Elizabeth threw her head back and laughed.

* * *

There were times that he hated his job.

Watching as David McGinley paced back and forth in his living room, Tony realized, this was one of those times. The guard had been the first to spot Sonny's guard at the house, and when all hell broke loose, he was one of the men in the shoot out in the front of the house. He was ashamed at the results of the night. Instead of catching the enemy that had some how walked into the McGinley house unnoticed, he ended up watching as Sonny's limo peeled out of their driveway, with Johnny O'Brien safely inside.

Not only did he let the enemy get away, but now _he_ had to break the news that he just received to his angry boss.

The Irishman was normally a calm guy. But when something happened, and his anger was spiked, his face would turn a blotchy red and his eyes would blaze with fury, scaring the shit out of all of his guards who were twice the mans size.

"Um, boss, I have that information that you wanted."

David stopped his pacing and let his angry gaze fall upon one of his most trusted guards. "How the hell were they able to get away?"

That was about the fourth time he asked that question and Tony knew that it was better to just answer him rather than point out the fact that he kept repeating the same question over and over. "I had my gun trained on O'Brien and the girl, and then another guy showed up and had his gun trained on me. We fought for a while when Jarrod showed up, but they were some how able to get us out of the room, and when we finally knocked the door down, they were out the window." Gingerly touching the corner of his swollen lip, Tony didn't dare wince when his boss narrowed his eyes. He had been embarrassed enough the evening by letting the enemy get away, he was not about to show any sign of weakness.

David's anger was growing with each passing second. His guards had always been the best, that's why their operation worked so smoothly in Philadelphia. He had the best guards and the most successful organization. It was an embarrassment to his entire family for them to not only let an enemy enter their house unnoticed, but to let him get away.

They needed to do damage control and the first step was to get answers about the mystery woman who was in his office with O'Brien. "What did you find out?"

"Like I said, I didn't get a good look at her, I never saw her face because Corintho's guard had her hidden behind his back, but I'm positive that it is the girl we think it is."

Tony was dragging out his explanation and David's patience was about to run out. "What did you find out?" His words were laced with a calm fury that was about to explode.

"The girl Sebastian brought to the party; she's the girl who was in the room with Sonny's men."

"You know this for sure?"

Tony nodded. "Jarrod did the research. She seems like a normal girl, works at a diner, goes to school as an art major. But she is defiantly in association with Jason Morgan. Morgan is Corintho's enfor…"

"I know who the hell he is. Does Sebastian know this?" David didn't think that his son knew about his date's friends. His son wasn't stupid enough to spend time with the girl if he knew she was a friend of Sonny's enforcer. Unlike his brother, Jonathan, Sebastian never showed a true interest in the family business. Where Jonathan wanted to work by his father's side in the business, Sebastian was more than happy to live his own life. It wasn't like Sebastian resented his father or rebelled; he just wasn't as invested as Jonathan was. David tried to get Sebastian more involved, he sent him to meetings as a representative, and David knew that Sebastian wouldn't do something so stupid. But he still couldn't help but ask.

To David's relief, Tony shook his head no. "Sebastian seems to think his date left before the shoot out. He said that something happened and she left. He picked her up, so he was asking if anyone took her home, and I did as you asked. I told him one of the guards took her home when she said she wasn't feeling well. Sebastian is heading over there right now."

Head bent, David stared at the marble floor before looking back at Tony. "You know what we have to do first."

"Take care of the girl."

* * *

They had moved from the small kitchen into the living room. It was getting late and Elizabeth had thought about setting up the pull out couch, but thought better of it when she realized it would bring up the issue of the sleeping arrangements. She knew that Jason would insist on her taking the couch while he slept on the floor. But she still held off on that conversation. For some reason, she felt nervous when thinking about it. It was a foolish feeling, something that shouldn't worry her. They had lived in her studio together when he was recovering from his gunshot wound. Everything was fine then.

So why was she suddenly feeling so nervous with being alone with Jason?

Plopping down on the couch, Elizabeth tucked her legs underneath her, stretching Jason's shirt over her knees before she finally looked at him. He had his back to her while he looked out the window. Elizabeth tried to push her nervous butterflies that kept swimming around in her stomach down as she studied him.

Jason was the one person that she could always be her self around. She didn't have to pretend to be happy when she wasn't, didn't have to feel ashamed when she was angry with the world. She could just be whatever she felt like being with him. It was such an odd feeling being somewhat nervous around him. And the more she stared at him, the more she realized that there was no need for it.

Yes, Jason made her feel things that she had never felt before. He was always, in his own way, making her think about things in a new light. She understood things better when he was around, and maybe…

Deciding against letting her thoughts turn to such a delicate subject, Elizabeth began to shuffle the cards she held in her hands. She was not ready to go _there_.

At the sound of the cards being shuffled, Jason turned around. His arms were crossed over his chest, a normal stance for him, as he watched Elizabeth bite her lower lip as she tried to shuffle like he showed her. She was getting better, but he still had to smile at her concentrated look.

His arms moved away from his chest. He splayed one hand across his bare chest, lightly rubbing his collarbone as he studied her. He was trying his hardest to keep her calm, and by the looks of it, he didn't have to do that much. It scared him to see her in that room with a gun trained in her direction. Never one to feel scared in any situation, Jason hated the feeling. Her life was on the line, and while he was fighting McGinley's guard while Elizabeth hid under the desk, that was all he could feel. He wasn't afraid for his life, or even Johnny's, his fear ran for her.

She impressed him with how quickly she moved, never once questioning him, always trusting him. He hated that she was injured during the chase, even if it was just scraped knees and a bruise on her shoulder. Elizabeth should have never been put in a situation like that. She was too… precious.

He had to smirk at that thought. She would probably give him hell for thinking such a thing. She told him—on numerous occasions—she wasn't something fragile that needed to be protected.

But, no matter how many times she told him, he couldn't help but _want_ to protect her.

Elizabeth was a strong woman; he had no doubt about that. She surprised him with her strength more and more each day. She was also brave, more than anyone he knew. But he also knew that she did hurt, even when she tried to hide it from everyone but him, and a part of Jason never wanted her to hurt again.

He knew his feelings were changing for her. And he also knew that there was nothing he could do about it. She was able to reach him, and even though he had no plans on acting on his feelings, he knew he couldn't be without her.

As a friend.

Sighing, Jason moved closer to the couch and sat down. His arms were braced on his knees as he turned his head to look at her. She was still trying to shuffle the deck of cards and hadn't looked up at him. He figured she was stalling, knowing that the time had come to talk about earlier that night.

"Do you want to talk about what happened earlier?"

She was in mid-shuffle, and when he spoke, the cards flew out of her hands, causing a small shower of cards between them. Laughing at her antics, Elizabeth began to pick up the cards with Jason's help. "Sorry, I was trying so hard to shuffle them I didn't notice you sat down." She glanced up at him and when he continued to stare at her, saying nothing, she knew he was waiting for an answer. She could tell him no, and he would leave it at that. He wouldn't force her to talk to him, but she knew she needed to talk about it.

He handed her the cards he picked up when she began to straighten them in her hands. She wasn't looking at him when she spoke. "I wasn't really scared when the guy caught me and Johnny in the room. I knew that something was going to happen, but I really didn't get scared until he remembered that Johnny worked for Sonny. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, and I was really afraid when he pulled the gun. But then… you showed up." She looked up at him, forgetting about straightening the cards in her hand.

"I just knew that it was going to be ok; because you were there."

On the outside, he gave no reaction to her statement other than a slight widening of his eyes. But on the inside, Jason was completely moved by her total faith in him. He was so used to people needing him, trusting him. But there was always that small part of those people that didn't trust him completely. Everyone he knew and loved the most always proved that.

But not Elizabeth. She literally left her life in his hands, never fearing he would let her down.

"Once you showed up, I never gave myself a chance to be afraid. Everything happened so fast, and it really didn't hit me until we were on your bike, driving away."

"What did you feel then?"

"Relief." He turned his body more towards her, bending his leg and letting it rest on the couch. His arm rested along the back of the couch, and if he moved his fingers just so, they would brush against her shoulder. "I was just so happy to get out of there. I was nervous that they would follow us, but when a while passed and nothing happened, I calmed down. The only time I was _truly_ afraid was when I was hiding under that desk. I was so scared that something was going to happen to you." They were staring into each others eyes for a silent moment before Elizabeth blushed and rushed out, "And Johnny."

"What were you doing in that room anyway?"

She looked away before she turned on the couch to face him fully. "I needed to get away." His eyes were understanding as they bored into hers. "I was just so overwhelmed with everything. I felt so out of place there. Everything was so fancy and the people were so proper. I just didn't fit in. I should have just listened to you and not have gone."

His smile was soft. "You went because you're a good person and you didn't want to let Sebastian down."

Her eyes lowered as her expression faltered. She hadn't thought about Sebastian since he kissed her. She felt embarrassed for the way she acted, running away from him and basically causing the whole night to end the way it had. "He kissed me." Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment and she wanted nothing more than rewind time and keep her mouth closed. But she knew that Jason would help her through her feelings, even if all he did was listen.

A small, jealous surge ran through him at her whispered admission. He didn't know why he felt it, and wanted nothing more but for it to go away. He didn't say anything, just formed his hand into a fist, releasing it once, twice, as he waited for her to continue.

"I was outside by myself when he walked up. We talked for a bit and then he just kissed me and I freaked out. I didn't even know he was going to kiss me, and when he did I practically ran away." She ran her fingers through her hair, show casing her frustration. "I guess it was childish or whatever, but it didn't feel right, being with him and sharing that with him" A bitter laugh erupted from deep within. "Would you listen to me? It was just a stupid kiss, it shouldn't matter so much, it—"

"But it does."

"But it does." She looked defeated as she flopped back against the couch, stretching her bare legs out before her. "I know that I'm not betraying Lucky's memory. I know that I have to move on, but it just didn't feel… _right_."

She shared a knowing look with Jason before she looked away. Both were lost in their own thoughts and before she knew it, the silence was getting to her. She didn't want to think at the moment. Fingering the cards in her hands, Elizabeth picked up the first card and held it before her face, looking at Jason over the edge of the card. "What card do I have in my hand?"

"What?"

"What card do I have in my hand?"

He was looking at her like she had lost her mind. "Just guess. I'm bored out of my mind."

"We could play poker again."

She wrinkled her nose as she tucked her legs underneath her again. "No way, I lost to you enough."

One side of his mouth hooked upward as a teasing twinkle entered his eyes. "You could use the practice."

Her eyes rolled heavenward before she playfully smacked him on his arm. "Just guess."

"Fine." Using his thumb to scratch his eyebrow, Jason looked away before he turned his blue gaze back towards her. "Three of Clubs."

"What?" Her mouth opened with shock as she stared down at the card in her hand. "How did you…" He looked far too smug to her. Narrowing her eyes, Elizabeth tossed the three of clubs at him as she picked up the next card in the pile. "That was a lucky guess." He was about to say something, but she cut him off. "If you get this wrong, you have to let me out of filing for you."

"And if I get it right?"

There was no way he could guess right on two cards. "Then I'll do seven more hours of filing for you."

His eyes narrowed as his head ticked to the side. "You seem confident."

"Just guess."

Neither one of them blinked as they stared at each other. Her full lips were formed into a smirk as his face remained neutral. "Seven of Diamonds."

Her smirk vanished as her eyes grew wide. He didn't dare smile as she looked completely shocked for a split second before she hastily pulled the card away. She stammered at first before she was able to speak. "Nope, not the right card."

His still didn't smile. "Let me see the card."

She was trying to place it back in the pile, but Jason quickly pulled the pile away from her hands, leaving her with the one card in her hand. "What? You don't believe me? Sorry Jason, but you lost."

"Let me see the card."

When he reached for the card, Elizabeth quickly stood up, holding the card behind her back as she backed away from him. "No."

Jason stood up and towered over her. She didn't move at first, but when his hand began to reach behind her back, she tried to run away from him. There really wasn't anywhere for her to go, for the house was way too small for her to get away from him. He didn't even move as he reached with one arm, grabbing her around the waist as she made her half attempt to run from him. She squealed and laughed as he pulled her back against him. She was trying to keep the card in her hand as he was reaching for it. They were both laughing as she tried her hardest to keep the card out of his site.

She turned around in his arms when he caught hold of her wrist. She pulled her arms over her head—a stupid mistake since he was so much taller than she was—causing his shirt to rise higher up her thighs. He almost had the card out of her hand. "No!" She was laughing so hard she could barely breathe let alone keep her precious card in her hand. "I won't let...oomph." Their feet had caused the throw rug to shift, causing the both of them to fall to the floor when they continued to fight over the card.

Elizabeth landed on the floor with a thud as Jason feel on top of her. He tried to catch himself, but the fall caught him by surprise, he couldn't catch himself in time. They were both breathing hard from fighting over the card, causing their chests to brush every time they both took a breath. One of Jason's arms was bent at the elbow, holding him slightly above her. But, somehow, during the fall, Jason's other hand ended up on Elizabeth's bare thigh.

Neither one of them moved as they stared into each others blue depths. Their breathing had calmed down, but their chests still brushed with each breath taken. Jason could only focus on her soft skin beneath his rough palm, and when his thumb began to brush back and forth against her thigh, his gaze lowered to her mouth.

Her lips were slightly parted, and when her tongue darted out of her mouth to moisten her lips, Jason's head dipped the slightest bit lower.

The safe house with still with silence until an owl cooed from the outside, causing both of them to snap out of their slight daze. Jason moved off of her, a frown apparent on his face as he reached down to help her up. Elizabeth's cheeks were flushed a slight pink, as she took his hand and then released it once she was steady on her feet. She pulled at the hem of his shirt, pulling it further down her legs as she cleared her throat.

He spoke before she could.

"You should go to sleep, you're probably tired." His words came out harsher than he intended to, and when she did nothing but nod her head and begin to move the cushions off of the couch, he sighed.

He helped her pull out the couch. "I'll sleep on the floor." His voice was soft.

"Thank you."

His only response was a slight shake of his head, showing her that it wasn't a problem. He had slept in worse places. He was walking towards the kitchen to turn out the light when she began to make a bed for him on the floor with the extra blankets she found. He would have told her it was ok, she didn't have to worry about him, but a part of him liked that she worried about him, and the other part of him knew she would ignore him and continue to make a bed for him.

She climbed onto the pulled out couch when he turned off the last light in the living room. "Goodnight Jason."

"Goodnight."

Neither said another word as they both settled down on their beds. Elizabeth was lying on her back before she became uncomfortable and flopped onto her stomach, spreading her arms wide.

Jason was lying on his back with his arms stacked behind his head. He could hear her moving restlessly on the couch and smirked. It never changed. For the small amount of time they lived together in her studio, she'd do the same thing every night. She would flop around for a few minutes before she talked to him for a few more minutes. She would literally talk herself to sleep. He counted to seven before she broke the silence.

"Jason?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

She peeked over the side of the couch. His eyes focused quickly in the dark and he could tell her gaze was curious. "How did you know what cards I was holding?"

His chuckle rumbled from deep within his chest. "I saw the cards before you flipped them over when you were straightening them."

Her eyes opened in shock. "So then you were cheating."

"No I wasn't." When she flung her pillow down at him he put it behind his head. "I only saw the first two. If you would have asked me the third one, you probably would have won."

She flopped back down on her back before she reached over the side again, pulling her pillow from beneath his head, muttering along the way. "That is so unfair."

She flopped around some more before she finally got comfortable. She was just drifting off to sleep when Jason's soft whisper met her ears. "Elizabeth?"

"Hmm?"

"You don't owe me fourteen hours of filing."

"Seven?"

"None."

Smiling, Elizabeth finally drifted off to sleep with one thought running through her mind.

She was still going to make him let her steer.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

"How are you feeling?"

At the sound of Sonny's voice, Johnny closed the folder he had been reading since he woke up that morning. He was sitting in the middle of his bed at the safe house. His right arm was placed in a sling the night before after Sonny's doctor had stitched his shoulder from the bullet wound. He hadn't even been confined for twenty-four hours and Johnny was already going insane. Stan had left with the doctor, leaving Johnny alone in the safe house for the night. He felt nothing but relief when Sonny walked in. "The shoulder doesn't hurt anymore, I'm ready to get the hell out of here and back to work."

Sonny grinned at Johnny's short temper. The Irishman was never one to sit idle and do nothing. If he wasn't at the bar, drinking beer and entertaining a new woman, then he was at work. Sonny knew that it was killing Johnny to sit around and read over the files they had on the McGinley's, but the doctor had informed Sonny to make sure Johnny took it easy for at least one day. Dr. Grayson knew better than to order anything more than one days rest for _any_ of the men in Sonny's organization.

Sonny stepped further into the bedroom, walking towards the dark mahogany dresser and leaning against it. Where Jason and Elizabeth were stuck in one of Sonny's less accommodating safe houses, Stan was able to bring Johnny to one of Sonny's favorite safe houses. There were times Sonny found himself going to the safe house just to relax with its lakeside view and spacious rooms.

He rubbed his hand over his mouth, wiping the grin from his face. "I need you to relax here for a while and go over those files for me. There might be something that we missed or something that we can use against McGinley. After what happened last night we need to prepare ourselves for a war."

Johnny nodded his head, knowing that Sonny was right. He was surprised the McGinley organization didn't already strike back. It was only a matter of time before David McGinley sent out a message to Sonny. They had to figure out a way to stop McGinley from striking back, or when he did make a move, they needed to prepare themselves for it. "Have you talked to Jason?"

"He called me last night. He wanted me to put men on The Brownstone and Elizabeth's grandmother. He seems to think that McGinley might pull something."

Johnny sighed as he dropped his head back against the headboard before looking back at Sonny. "I tried to keep Elizabeth out of view and I was pretty sure that they didn't get a good look at her. But they could have put two and two together and realized that Elizabeth was missing right when everything went down." Not able to take lying in bed anymore, Johnny threw the covers back and stood up. He was shirtless, but still had his pants on from the night before. "I'm not sure what they might plan for Elizabeth though. She went to that party with the youngest McGinley and they seemed…close." He remarked, remembering the kiss he witnessed between the two.

Sonny squinted, processing what Johnny was telling him. He remembered the encounter he had with Jason earlier that week. The way the younger man had reacted when Sonny suggested that Elizabeth might be able to help them. There was something about Jason's composure that day that caused Sonny to realize that maybe Jason's feelings for Elizabeth was more than a friendship.

Sonny also knew that Elizabeth was still grieving over Lucky's death. He knew that Jason and Elizabeth were good for each other, helping each other through their times of trouble. Jason had just lost Michael, and because of Sonny, he lost Carly as well when the two of them slept together. Sonny would never forgive himself for how he betrayed Jason, but he also couldn't take back what he did and couldn't say that he wouldn't do it again. Carly was no good for Jason, and if it took Sonny sleeping with her for Jason to realize that, then Sonny would do it again. Not only did Sonny try to help Jason realize exactly who Carly was, but maybe he could also help his best friend find happiness again. He saw the possibilities between Elizabeth and Jason. Sonny was no matchmaker, but he could help the two of them along the way.

Sonny just hoped that Elizabeth wasn't moving on with Sebastian. "How close did they seem?"

"They were laughing together and stuff. I don't know." Johnny made his way out of the room and towards the kitchen, Sonny following behind him. Both men settled down at the kitchen table where more files were spread out. "Elizabeth didn't seem to be having a good time but when she was with Sebastian, she would perk up." He sorted through some files. "But that was before they went outside."

Sonny's forehead scrunched in confusion. "What happened?"

Johnny's attention was focused on looking through the files. He would open one, see it wasn't the one he was looking for and place it to the side. "Elizabeth walked outside first, they were talking to his family and she just walked away. I couldn't hear what they were saying because Jason was blowing me eardrum out when he kept yelling into the microphone. Sebastian followed and when I got a chance to get outside, I saw them kiss and then Elizabeth left and went upstairs." He looked through another file, still not finding the one he wanted. "She was really upset when I found her upstairs."

Sonny soaked in the information. He stood up, moving towards the coffee machine to start a new pot. As he began to scoop coffee beans from the container, he continued his questioning. He should be focusing more on the potential mob war but he needed to help Jason. He had other men working on the situation, and once he could give Jason and Elizabeth that push, they could come home and Jason could help with the McGinley's. "Why was Jason on the microphone, I thought Stan was supposed to be on the other end."

Johnny rolled his eyes, tossing another folder to the side. "So did I," He grumbled. "I was keeping Stan informed and then Jason's voice yelled through. I think he was in a shitty mood. If I ever have to do an undercover thing again—which I advise you to never make me do—Jason has to stay the hell away from the surveillance crew."

Sonny chuckled, clicking the coffee pot on. "As long as Elizabeth isn't involved in the next one, he won't be as testy."

Johnny pushed another folder aside and glanced up at his boss curiously. He shook his head and smirked as he slapped his good hand against the table. "You see it too." Leaning back in his chair, Johnny lifted his leg, placing his ankle on the opposite knee. "The son of a bitch is falling for her isn't he?" His smile was large as he chuckled. He was glad he wasn't the only one who realized that the enforcer had it bad for Elizabeth.

Johnny liked Elizabeth, thought she was a beautiful and strong young woman. He wasn't very familiar with the relationship she had with Jason, but from the way Jason was the night before, and when he ordered Johnny to watch over Elizabeth, Johnny could tell there was something else going on.

Sonny looked down at the floor, when he looked up at Johnny he wanted to laugh at the goofy smile on the guard's face. He only shook his head and reached inside his pants pocket for his cell phone to call Jason. Johnny resumed looking through the many files as Sonny waited for Jason to answer.

It was still early, but Sonny knew the other man would be up. On the second ring, Jason answered in a whispered tone. "Yeah?"

Sonny found himself lowering his voice as well but having no idea why. "Why are you whispering?"

"Elizabeth's still asleep." Sonny broke out in a smile, knowing that what he was about to do was the right thing. "Do you have anything new? Did McGinley try anything?"

"No. I put guards on both Bobbie and Audrey and nothing has happened. I called Benny and told him about what happened and he is making sure everything is secure." Sonny cleared his throat, glancing at Johnny, seeing the other man still searching through the files. He looked towards the floor and placed a hand over his mouth before he hooked it behind his neck. "I…uh," he cleared his throat again. "It's still not safe for you and Elizabeth to come back yet."

Jason frowned. "You just said that nothing happened yet. I need to get home before something does happen."

"I know, I know," Sonny nodded. "But we still don't know if McGinley knows that Elizabeth is the woman who was in the room with Johnny. They have probably done research and found out that Elizabeth is a friend of yours. If she comes home just yet, she would be in danger." Sonny heard Jason curse on the other end of the line but didn't back down. What he was saying was true, but where they could protect Elizabeth in Port Charles, it might slow down the process in the two of them realizing how they really felt for each other. "It's better to keep Elizabeth at the safe house where you can watch over her. It should only be for a couple more days—"

"A couple more days?"

"—but if anything happens I'll have the two of you come home right away."

He really didn't want to have to stay at the safe house, but he knew that Sonny was right. Elizabeth was in danger now because the men could have either seen her or figured out that she was the woman upstairs with the men from the Corinthos organization. But he knew the two of them were going to go stir crazy in the small safe house. Both he and Elizabeth were not used to sitting idle and doing nothing. The two of them enjoyed being outside, enjoyed moving around. If they were going to stay cooped up in the safe house, then they were going to at least need some clothes. "I understand." He sighed. "Could you send someone with some things?"

Jason began to list the necessary items they were going to need if they were going to be stuck in the safe house in the middle of nowhere for at least a couple of days.

"I'll send Francis by with everything. He should make it there later tonight."

"Alright."

When Sonny hung up his phone, he saw Johnny staring at him with that goofy smile on his face once more. The younger man was taking great pleasure in making Sonny squirm—knowing it was a rare occasion when Sonny Corinthos was uncomfortable.

"What?" Sonny bit out.

"Nothing."

They both left it at that, both knowing exactly what Johnny was smiling about. Sonny turned around to pour the both of them coffee, almost spilling it all over himself when Johnny let out a loud triumph.

"I found it!" Holding up the folder for Sonny to see the picture inside, Johnny poked the picture with his finger. "That's the son of a bitch who shot me." When Sonny nodded, Johnny grinned. "When this all goes down… the bastards mine."

* * *

It had been three hours since Sonny had called. Three hours where Jason paced around the small cabin as quietly as possible. He stepped outside for a few minutes to check over his bike, but once he grew uncomfortable at leaving Elizabeth inside by herself he went back inside. Stopping his pacing by the side of the couch where she still slept, Jason realized that the night before had really taken a toll on her.

When he lived with her in the studio he quickly found out that Elizabeth was _not_ a morning person. She hated getting up when her alarm clock went off, was only coherent when she first woke up if she woke up on her own terms—which was when she felt like waking up. But even then she didn't function clearly. She needed her time to get up, time to herself where she could clear her sleep clogged mind. Jason never bothered her in the first few minutes of the morning, being one who liked the piece and quiet early as well. He found it amusing how grumpy she could be with her hair tousled and wild around her face, a permanent pout on her lips until she started to actually wake up. But even then, even with her never wanting to wake up early, she would still stir at the slightest sounds. He could hardly move in the studio and she would slowly open one eye to glare at him before turning over and falling back to sleep.

But she hadn't moved since he woke up, didn't even groan when his cell phone rang. She was truly wiped out.

Walking towards the front window of the safe house, Jason stared out into the woods, thinking about the events that occurred the night before. Sonny might want him to stay at the safe house, but he could still work through things there, figure things out for when McGinley did make his move. He had been inside the other mans house, even if it was for a short time. Both him and Johnny, and even Elizabeth, got a feel for the floor plan. Jason was sure that Elizabeth might know more about the house than either him or Johnny and when she woke up they were going to need to sit down and talk about it. Knowing where certain rooms were located might be a help in the future, maybe they could get another person inside the house to get some more information.

On their own accord, Jason's thoughts began to drift from the disaster that happened the night before and started to focus on what happened when they got to the cabin. He had been enjoying his time with Elizabeth the night before playing poker with her. She wasn't the greatest, but she had been catching on quickly. But it wasn't even the poker game that had him frowning as he looked out at the scenery before him without really seeing it.

It was what happened when they both fell on the floor. He had started to realize things that he never thought of when it came to Elizabeth. Like the softness of her skin under his hand, the fullness of her lips. Jason was even sure that he had begun to lower his head to kiss her.

Was he really going to kiss her?

It all happened so fast that he wasn't really sure. Elizabeth was his friend—his more-than-friend. She was still grieving over Lucky, but she was beginning to move on. When he first met her, she was Emily's friend, Lucky's girlfriend. But he quickly, almost instantly, realized that she was more than that. He enjoyed the talks they had on the docks or at Kelly's. And even though he hated it more than anything that she had to be the one to find him when he was shot, he was actually glad in a way that it was her who found him. He really didn't have anyone at the time, and it was nice to have Elizabeth there for him. It was different.

Jason knew his feelings for her were different. But what the hell was he thinking when he bent down to kiss her?

A groan from behind him brought him out of his thoughts. Turning around, Jason smirked as he saw Elizabeth stretching out on the couch. Her eyes were still closed, her forehead was scrunched, and her lips were set in that all knowing pout. When she was finished stretching, she flopped back on the bed.

"Morning."

Her eyes slowly opened as she turned her head in his direction. When she saw Jason smirking down at her she glared in return. Jason only shook his head and started to turn around but stopped as she threw the covers off and made her way off of the couch. She had her back to him but he could see the slight hunch in her shoulders, the tightness there. When she stood up he also noticed that she favored her left leg more.

When she took a step forward she stopped and Jason could hear her hiss in pain. "What's wrong? Is it your knee?"

"Yeah." She walked slowly towards the foot of the couch-bed and sat down. Jason stood in front of her. "It's just really sore and stiff right now. I just have to give it some time and it'll get better."

They both grimaced when she lifted the hem of his shirt away from her knee so they could look at her scrape. A bruise had formed around the scrape, but neither was large. She just had to move her leg around a bit and the stiffness would ease. "Do you want me to get some ice for it?"

"No, I'm fine." She shook her head, reaching out her hand to grab onto Jason's forearm to help her stand. Jason immediately reached out and helped her to her feet. "I just need to walk around a bit."

"Ok."

Jason watched as she tried to walk around as much as she could—given the small space of the cabin. He started to put the couch away and when she went to help him he shook his head. "I got everything ready for you to have some tea; you just have to turn it on."

Jason finished cleaning the living room and joined Elizabeth in the kitchen. She was rubbing at the back of her neck, a small look of pain on her face. Remembering the bruise on her shoulder from the night before, Jason gently grabbed her arm and steered her towards a chair. She looked up at him questionably but didn't speak as he finished her tea for her. She thanked him when he placed it on the table in front of her but still looked confused as he stepped behind her. His voice was low as he started to move her hair aside. "I'm just going to look at your shoulder?"

He felt her stiffen and let go of her hair. "Do you not want me to?"

"No…no that's fine. I think I just slept on it wrong because it's really stiff. I feel like my muscles there are all knotted." She couldn't see him but Jason nodded his head before he gently took her hair and moved it to the side.

Because he was so much bigger than her, his shirt fit her loosely. He was able to the collar of the shirt and pulled it off of her shoulder to expose the bruise. It was the same size as it was the night before but it was darker. He had placed his hand on her shoulder and could feel how tight her muscles were at that spot. Absently, he began to rub her shoulder. She had sat up straight at first but the more his hands worked on her shoulder, the more she began to relax.

She closed her eyes and let her head fall back against his stomach. "That feels _so_ good."

"It'll still be a little stiff, but hopefully it will feel better."

"It's already starting to feel better."

Jason continued to work out the kinks in her shoulder. He tried to not touch her bruise too much, knowing that it was a tender area. Every once in a while she would sigh, causing his attention to focus in on her face that was tilted slightly back as she leaned her head back. He swallowed as his eyes zoned in on her parted lips. His stomach muscles tightened in response at the sight and he almost let out a sigh when she dropped her head forward. He could only feel a few more knots in her shoulder. All he had to do was work those out and he could remove his hands from her incredibly silky skin.

He cleared his throat. "Sonny called. He said that we were going to have to stay here for a few more days just until we make sure that it is safe enough to go back to Port Charles."

"Right, because they probably know that I was the one who was with Johnny in that office."

Jason had been a little hesitant about telling Elizabeth they would have to stay at the safe house, so it surprised him when she knew exactly why they would have to stay. It shouldn't have surprised him. Elizabeth was intelligent. He had also guessed that she wouldn't be too happy about it either, but the tone of her voice told him that she was excepting what they had to do and didn't have that big of a problem with it.

Elizabeth turned around in her chair causing Jason to drop his hands. She was chewing on her lower lip, no doubt trying to figure out a way to ask him what she wanted to. "Since the McGinley's probably already know that I am friends with you and Sonny then that means that they might try to use me as a way to get to you." Jason nodded when she paused. "But since I'm here with you and not in Port Charles, do you think they might go after my Grams or,"

Knowing what was bothering her, Jason moved to sit in the chair next to her. "Sonny and I already took care of that. We have someone watching Audrey, Bobbie, and even Emily."

"You think they would go after Em?"

"I don't know. But I'd rather put someone on her than take the risk."

"Of course, yeah. I would just hate to think that because of me, Emily could be in danger."

They both shared a knowing look at that moment. Elizabeth looked away first, fingering the rim of her cup. "So were going to be stuck here for a couple more days?"

"Looks like it." After a moment of silence, Jason continued. "I told Sonny that he was going to have to send some clothes and other things. They should arrive later tonight."

"Good." She sighed. "As comfortable as your shirt is it'll be good to get some clothes on." The both of us, she added silently trying once again that morning to not stare at his exposed chest. It was becoming more and more difficult to share the small cabin with Jason and not be uncomfortable with the fact that he was shirtless. Her cheeks would heat up each time she would look at him, wanting nothing more than to have a blank canvas so she could paint him.

It really wasn't a good idea for her to be admiring him in such a way, especially since they were going to be stuck alone together for such a long time. Elizabeth always knew that Jason was gorgeous. A smile from him could drive many ladies crazy. But what confused her the most was the fact that she was putting herself in that group of ladies.

It might have been because of what happened the night before. Maybe she wasn't as nonchalant as she thought she was about how she felt when he fell on top of her. When they had both separated and went to sleep, she was somewhat embarrassed, but quickly got over it. Or so she thought.

She couldn't help but keep thinking of what happened for that one minute that they were both on the floor. She could have sworn that he dipped his head down like he was going to kiss her.

Would Jason really kiss her?

Or better yet, if he did, would she have kissed him back?

She gave a sideways glance at Jason as he gazed out the window in the kitchen. She snapped her eyes back to her cup when she found out the answer to her question.

Would she have kissed him back?

Yes.

* * *

The sound of an approaching car caused Jason to look out the window. It was dark now so he couldn't see who was there. He and Elizabeth had waited most of the day for Francis to show up. The day was uneventful. They had played poker, sat down and talked about what she knew from the time she spent in the McGinley house. He had showered while she made them lunch. When he came out of the small bathroom he couldn't suppress his groan when she informed him all too cheerfully that they were going to be having soup. He was thankful that he told Sonny to have Francis bring them food. He really couldn't deal with having soup everyday.

He motioned for Elizabeth to stay back when she came forward to see what Jason was looking at. The car stopped and a moment later Francis stepped out of the car. Jason walked outside to help him bring in all of the bags that held the numerous things Jason told Sonny he and Elizabeth would need.

When the men walked inside, Elizabeth greeted Francis and thanked him for bringing them everything. He was walking towards the kitchen when he caught sight of what Elizabeth was wearing, causing him to pause. He looked at her, blushed a little at seeing her in nothing but Jason's shirt and then looked over to find Jason staring at him with a frown. Francis took a step back, looked at Elizabeth, looked back at Jason, and then quickly made his way into the kitchen. Both Elizabeth and Jason shared a confused look before Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders and went into the kitchen.

Francis went outside once more to grab two suitcases as Elizabeth and Jason sorted through the bags that cluttered the counters and table. When he entered, Elizabeth and Jason were trying to find places for the groceries.

"Here are your clothes. Sonny didn't know how long you two would be staying here so I tried to pack enough. You should find everything you need in there."

When everything was put away, Elizabeth grabbed her suitcase, making her way towards the bathroom. "I'm just going to take a shower and get changed. Thank you so much again Francis, you have no idea how much I appreciate this." She said as she gave a quick look at Jason, sighing in both thanks and displeasure at the fact that he now had a shirt on.

"No worries Ms. Webber."

"Did anything happen since I talked to Sonny this morning?" Jason asked, bring Francis's attention back to him.

"No. McGinley is still lying low. One of our guys did get jumped by a couple of Sorel's men down at Pier 52 though."

Both Francis and Jason looked up at the sound of Elizabeth's suitcase falling to the floor. She was just entering the bathroom when she overheard their conversation. She turned around with wide eyes. "I can't believe I forgot."

"What?" Both men asked at the same time.

"When you and Johnny were fighting those two men last night I found a piece of paper that had two names on it and a date. I didn't recognize the first mans name, but Sorel's name was on the paper. It was like some kind of memo or something."

"What was the date?"

"January twenty-first. Two days from today."

Francis turned to Jason. "Do you think it could be some type of meeting between Sorel and McGinley?"

"It could be." Standing up, Jason moved towards the kitchen counter and leaned his back against it. "Was there anything else on the paper? A time, a place?"

"No." She answered regrettably. "It just said McCaffery's, Sorel, and the date. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I completely forgot and—"

"Elizabeth, its fine."

She smiled in relief before she gestured towards the bathroom, wanting to get out of there and dwell in her embarrassment alone. "Do you mind if I take my shower right now or do you still need me."

Jason shook his head. "Go ahead. If we have anymore questions we can wait until you get out."

Before Elizabeth was even inside the bathroom, Francis was pulling out his cell phone. The two of them had made phone call after phone call; trying to gather as much information as they could the entire time Elizabeth took her shower.

When she stepped out of the bathroom, Jason was sitting at the table, writing something down as the person on the other end of his phone spoke. She could hear Francis talking in the living room and for a moment didn't know what she should do. She felt stupid for not telling Jason what she had found earlier. With the gun fight, driving away to a safe house, and then all of the mixed emotions she was feeling towards Jason, finding that note slipped her mind.

Francis came into the kitchen as Jason hung up his phone. "Did you find anything?" Jason asked as Francis sat down next to him at the small kitchen table.

"I just got off of the phone with our guy from Philly. He told me about these siblings, Jo and Jeff. They have a lot of dealings with the McGinley organization but they also have been known to have some dealings with Sorel. He said that if anyone where to know anything, it would be those two."

"Alright, how do we find them?"

"There's this bar just about a half hour from here. Every Tuesday night there's a contest for the mechanical bull. Jeff is some kind of champ there or something so the two of them go in order for him to compete. They also meet a lot of their associates there. While Jeff defends his title, Jo meets with everyone."

"So they'll be there tomorrow night?"

"Yup."

"Alright, I'll meet with the two brothers tomorrow—"

"Actually, they're brother and sister. Jo's real name is Jo-Lynne but if you call her that she'll probably shoot you in front of everyone."

When it came to the business, Jason didn't particularly care for working with women. But at the moment, he had no other choice.

Francis scratched the back of his neck. "There is a small problem though. Neither of them will meet with anyone unless you have an appointment. Jeff is the muscles and Jo is the brains. In order to talk to Jo, Jeff needs to be distracted."

Jason nodded, "I'll figure something out." They spoke back and forth for a few more minutes before Jason tried to make a phone call to Sonny. When the other man didn't answer, Jason sighed. He had been trying to get in touch with Sonny for the past half hour but the phone kept ringing until Sonny's answering machine picked up. He tried the office, the penthouse, and his cell phone but he got no answer. When he grew frustrated, he had Francis call, but there was still no answer.

"I have to head back to Port Charles anyway. I'll call you when I get in touch with Sonny."

"Thanks." Jason knew that something wasn't wrong with Sonny. If something had happened, one of the guards would have called him or Francis.

Elizabeth had been standing by the counter during their conversation and hadn't said anything the entire time. Jason entered the kitchen again after he walked Francis to the door, still going over plans for the next night. Elizabeth was standing in the same spot she had been since she exited the bathroom. By the look on her face, Jason could tell that she was thinking. When she finally snapped herself out of her daze, she looked him square in the eyes and spoke with determination.

"I want to help."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

"No."

"No?"

"No."

Elizabeth let out a frustrated sigh at Jason's simple answer. All he said was no, was it so hard for the man to elaborate. "Why not?"

"Because I said so—"

"Oh, no you don't," she cut in. "I am not a child, Jason. If you don't want me to help, then you better tell me why."

Scrubbing his hands over his face, Jason shook his head. "Its too dangerous, that's why."

"I understand that it's dangerous, but I'm in this, too." She held up her hand when he opened his mouth to interrupt her. She moved closer to him. "In some way, I'm responsible for everything that's going on. I want to help."

Jason took her hands into his upon seeing the guilt on her face. "You are in no way responsible for what's going on." He reassured her in a soft voice. "You wouldn't have even known that Sebastian and his family were my enemy if I didn't tell you—"

"But I still went to that party anyway." She pulled away from him, turning around and walking towards the living room. She sat down on the couch and waited for him to join her before she continued. "If I hadn't of run away and gone upstairs, Johnny wouldn't have had to follow me and we all wouldn't be in this mess right now. Let me do something to help you."

"You want to know how you can help?" At her eager nod, he covered his mouth with his hand, hiding his smirk for he knew she was not going to be too agreeable to what he had to say. "Stay here where it's safe so I don't have to worry about you when I'm out there tonight. If you're with me, all I'd do was worry and we wouldn't get anything accomplished."

Elizabeth formed her mouth into a pout, bringing his attention to her lips for a moment before she huffed and fell back against the couch. "Fine." She grumbled before adding. "But I still think I could help distract that guy."

There was no way in hell he was going to use her to distract some jackass.

He got up from the couch, giving her a gentle smile. "Francis and Matt are going to be coming by tomorrow afternoon. Matt will stay with you while Francis and I go to the bar and find out what McGinley's dealings with Sorel are."

Elizabeth looked away from his pitying look. She knew he was right though. She probably would just get in the way and ruin everything. But she still had to offer. Sighing, she got up from the couch and walked back towards the kitchen. It was really inconvenient only having two rooms to go back and forth to.

A sudden thought entered her mind and, with as much nonchalance as she could muster, she asked. "Does Matt know how to play poker?"

Jason frowned at her back, confused. "Yes."

She spun around and gave him a sweet, innocent smile. "Then you better get your butt back in here and teach me some more. I gotta find some way to entertain myself tomorrow night when you're gone."

Jason followed her, suppressing the urge to ask her exactly what she planned on wagering Matt. For some reason he really didn't want to know but asked anyway when he couldn't hold back anymore.

"What are you planning on doing?"

She paused in shuffling the cards. "What do you mean?" She asked with all the innocence of a child. At his knowing look she glanced away and smiled. "There's this paint set that I've had my eye on for a while now." Her smile grew bigger when she looked back up at Jason. "Sonny pays his guards good, right?"

* * *

By the middle of the afternoon the next day, Jason began to become restless waiting around for Francis. He had talked to the guard that morning and was told that Francis and Matt would be coming in the early afternoon to prepare for everything. It was getting late and the two of them still hadn't called to let Jason know they were on their way.

Jason had called the both of them several times only to reach their voicemails immediately. A call to Stan in Port Charles told him that the two guards were on their way, but it unnerved him that he couldn't get in touch with them.

Elizabeth had been kept busy most of the day, using the sketchpads that Francis brought for her—one of the things Jason told Sonny to have Francis bring—and drawing most of the day. She had let Jason know her gratitude upon seeing the sketch pads by giving him a huge hug that once again brought his attention to thoughts he should not be thinking when it came to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth had spent most of the day alternating between sketching and watching Jason pace around, check his gun once every hour and then checking his watch twice as much. She knew that he was anxious about tonight and though she wanted to ease his mind, she knew she really couldn't. When Jason got in this mode, there was no distracting him.

She did get him to stop pacing for a short while when she asked him to go over the different hands she could win with in poker. Which hand beat which. He was still slightly distracted, but she did get a smile out of him when she made her boast about how she was going to kick Matt's butt at poker.

When the hours continued to pass and there were only two left until it was time to leave, Jason was about ready to break something. There could only be one logical explanation as to why Francis and Matt weren't already there and that meant that they were dead. Jason didn't want to think that, but he was running out of excuses as to why neither had called.

He had put another call into Stan to have people search for the two. His nervousness had rubbed off on Elizabeth so much so that she put her sketchpad aside and was chewing on her bottom lip as she watched him pace, stop at the window to look outside, then resume his pace and repeat.

It wasn't until an hour before Jason was supposed to leave that he finally got the call he had been waiting for. Francis was on the other line but the connection was choppy. There were several moments where Jason thought he was going to loose his mind trying to understand what Francis was saying, but the connection finally became clear.

"_Jason, can you hear me?"_

"Where the hell are you?" Came the growled answer.

_Francis rolled his eyes, not at all happy to have Jason snapping at him after the day he had. "I'm in the middle of fucking no where, that's where I am."_

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose. But before he could reply, Francis went on to explain where he was.

"_We were on our way to the safe house when our tire blew. Can you fucking believe that there isn't a spare tire?" Francis snorted, knowing he had Johnny to thank for this since he was the last one to use the car. "We've been walking for hours and since we weren't near any towns, neither one of us could get reception on our phones. I was just able to get through to you."_

Jason knew the answer to his question before he asked it, but he still hoped he wasn't right. "Are you close enough where I could pick you up or someone could bring you here?"

There was a long pause before Francis answered.

"_No. We're still about an hour away from you and it would take too much time for someone to get us to you. We've missed our chance, man."_

Damn, Jason cursed under his breath. He was right. "Just call Stan and have him send someone to get the two of you and then come here anyway. We might have missed our chance to talk to some insiders, but we can still figure out what we are going to do about tomorrow."

Jason hung up the phone and tossed it on the table before bracing his hands on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. Elizabeth watched him in silence, from what she gathered from Jason's side of the conversation, something had happened to detain Francis and Matt and they weren't going to be able to go to the bar to question Jo and Jeff. Elizabeth saw Jason's back tighten as his muscles bulged against his shirt.

She knew he was frustrated at not being able to do anything. Slowly, she got up from the couch and walked towards him as silently as she could. His back stiffened even more when her hand splayed against it between his shoulder blades.

"You can still go." She said as softly as her touch was.

Jason turned just his head to look down at her, the confusion showing on his face.

She swallowed before she offered more. She knew how much he was going to hate this idea, but this was their only chance. "I know you said no before, but—"

"No." He shook his head, already knowing where she was going with this.

"Jason…"

He pulled away from her. "I'm not willing to take that chance." He said forcefully. Any other person would have known that it was time to give up, that Jason was not going to bend in any way. He was a stubborn man.

But Elizabeth was just as stubborn.

"We are stuck here for God only knows how much longer." Her tone was so strong that it caused him to turn around and look at her. "McGinley has some type of meeting with Sorel and that McCaffery person, and the only way to get any type of information about it is to talk to those siblings. If you give this chance up, Jason," She shrugged, placing her hands on her hips. "You might not get another chance to find out what's going on before something really big happens."

He took in a deep breath, looked away. Elizabeth could tell she was getting somewhere and hedged on. "We could still be stuck here when everything goes down and then what? You know you need to get as much information as you can. Another opportunity like this is not going to turn up and you know it."

When his hands scrubbed over his face, she knew she had broken through him. He sighed, the sound coming out on a loud hiss. "I don't want to leave you here with no one to guard you. I wouldn't be able to—"

"You're not going to leave me. I'm going to be your distraction."

She was going to be a distraction all right. That was the number one reason he couldn't go through with this. "I can't."

"Come on, Jason." Elizabeth moved closer to him, put her hands on his forearms and gave him a serious look. "All I have to do is get Jeff's attention away from his sister. I'll just flirt with him a bit, have him buy me a drink," she placed his finger on his lips when they opened to tell her no once more. "I won't actually drink it, I'm not that stupid. I'll just talk to the guy for a couple of minutes to give you enough time to question Jo."

Her finger dropped from his lips. He closed his eyes, knowing this was a bad idea. Why the hell was he even considering it?

Because she was right. If McGinley was in with Sorel and some other organizations, something was going to happen and Jason needed to know what it was before it did happen. This was his only chance since the meeting was taking place tomorrow.

But, dammit, he didn't want her involved. He didn't want her involved from the beginning when he found out about Sebastian McGinley. Hell, he shouldn't have given in that night on the docks when he saw Sorel talking to her. He should have stayed away from her after he got Sorel away from her. But no… no he let her get to him. He let her words affect him in such a way that he couldn't stay away from her.

She told him she missed him, and he would be lying if he said he hadn't missed her, too.

He should have lied, though. He should have told her that it didn't really matter to him, even though it mattered more than he was willing to think about. But now she was stuck in the middle of his business again and he was going to willingly let her help him out.

It was stupid and he would never forgive himself if anything happened to her.

But he slowly nodded his head, knowing that he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

No matter what.

When he opened his eyes, it was to see her smiling up at him. His mouth tightened as his eyes narrowed. "You're going to do everything I say with no arguments."

"I promise I'll do whatever you want."

Jason sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time in one minute. His jaw tightened, her smile grew wider. "We'll need to leave in fifteen minutes."

She turned away from him and headed for her suitcase. "Then I need to start getting ready right now. I hope Francis packed something appropriate enough."

The only thing appropriate enough in Jason's mind was a pair of sweats.

* * *

"If you feel uncomfortable at all—"

"I am to make up some type of excuse and make my way towards the bar where there are plenty of people to make sure I'm not bothered." She sighed, repeating what he had instructed her five times now. "I know what I'm supposed to do Jason. Nothing is going to happen.

And that usually meant that something was going to happen, Jason thought. He had half a mind to get her back on his bike and bring her back to the safe house whether she liked it or not. He couldn't help what he was feeling. Putting her in this situation did not sit with him well. Especially after seeing what she was wearing.

It was a simple enough outfit, but Elizabeth had to spice it up a bit making him that much more uncomfortable knowing she was going to be putting her self out there wearing what she was, and seeing so much of her smooth skin added to his discomfort.

She was wearing a button down shirt that hugged her nicely enough but she felt the need to leave the shirt unbuttoned from beneath her breasts, showing off her flat stomach. She had first had it tied in the front, exposing her back as well, but Jason had simply refused to allow her to go out like that.

She had said that she needed to be somewhat skimpy if she wanted to gain his attention, but Jason wouldn't budge. He could see a bit of relief enter her eyes when she had to take her shirt down. He knew this couldn't be the most comfortable experience for her and even gave her another chance to back down, telling her that he knew she was uncomfortable putting herself out there like that, for some guy to gawk at. But she smiled bravely and assured him that she could do it.

He admired her and cursed her at the same time.

They were standing in the shadows near the side of the bar, not wanting any one to see them together and blow their cover. Jason was not going to let her in until they went over everything again and he knew she was ok with this.

"If you can't get away from him, then do some type of signal to let me know that I need to help you." He thought about what she could do before saying, "Tuck your hair behind your ear and I'll be right there to get you away from him no matter what."

"Jason." Elizabeth said in a very serious voice. "I tuck my hair behind my ears all the time; I don't even know when I am doing it half the time."

Damn. So much for him trying to be clever.

"Alright. Start buttoning your shirt then."

Elizabeth thought that an odd sign but didn't say so since she was positive she wasn't going to need to use it. He really was paranoid.

She touched his shoulder, gave a slight squeeze. "If at any moment I feel uncomfortable and I can't get away from him, I'll scream for help and you can be my Knight in Shining armor." She smiled. "Its not going to be that hard to talk to him, I talk to strangers everyday at Kelly's. You just make sure you're careful with that Jo," she chuckled, remembering what Francis had said about the temperamental sister.

The corner of his mouth lifted at her joke. He took in a deep breath, placed his hands on her shoulders. "You ready?"

She imitated his deep breath. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Jason quickly described what the siblings looked like from what Francis had told him. He told her that if Jo and Jeff were together to not approach him until he moved away from his sister to watch the mechanical bull competition. He was told that Jo stayed at their table when the competition took place but Jeff always got a front row view. With one last nod, he sent her inside, letting her know that he would be in behind her in exactly two minutes so that it didn't seem like they came together.

As he watched her go inside, Jason wished he would have resisted and not let her talk him in to this.

* * *

The smoke fogged her vision before Elizabeth was able to get a good look at the bar. It wasn't as small as Jakes, which made her nervous for a moment knowing that there were places in the bar that Jason might not see her or her him. There were several different bars aligning the walls, with a huge dance floor in the middle, where they were now setting up the mechanical bull. She walked further into the bar and glanced around, looking for the siblings. She spotted Jo first and let out a breath at not seeing Jeff with her. That meant she had to find him and get to work quickly so Jason could question the sister and they could get out of there quickly.

It took her no time at all to spot Jeff. He was leaning against the "fence" that roped off the area for the bull riding. From what she could see of him he was a very good looking guy. Most likely around the same age as Jason, he had jet black hair and obliviously worked out. He was practically bulging out of his white shirt.

She casually walked towards him and, when she reached his side, leaned against the fence right next to him. He was looking away from her, back to where his sister was sitting at their table. She glanced behind her as well to see if Jason had entered yet.

He hadn't.

She frowned but decided that it was time to get Jeff's attention on her instead of watching his sister.

She leaned more into the fence, kept her gaze on the people who were setting up the mechanical bull as she raised her voice to get his attention. "Are you going to be competing?"

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him turn towards her, saw his gaze run over the length of her body causing her to inwardly cringe. If Jason could tell how she was feeling slightly uncomfortable, he would get her out of there right away. She sucked it up though and glanced at him. When their eyes connected, Elizabeth took in a deep breath at seeing his handsomeness up close. He was very tan, no doubt because he went to the tanning bed; his hair was black as night, but his eyes were the lightest green she had ever seen.

It was defiantly not going to be hard flirting with him, she thought.

"I always do." He boasted with a smile that no doubt had caused many women to melt. "What about you."

He glanced behind him again to look back at his sister before he put his full attention on Elizabeth again. "Oh I couldn't." She sighed. He was looking behind him again. She needed to think of something quick to get him to stop looking behind him. She laid a hand on his bicep and tried to squeeze it. In the most flirtatious voice she could get out, she said, "You must stay on for a long time, though. As strong as you are." She ended her "admiration" of his muscles by running her hand down his arm.

He smiled down at her, turning his body to face her fully. "I do stay on pretty long. But I could teach you how to hold on real tight later. When the competition is over, they leave the bull for people to practice on. I'll take you up there with me."

Elizabeth licked her lips in an enticing way. Man, was she glad they would most likely be out of there before she would have to think of a way to decline his offer later on. A loud cheer began bringing their attention to the floor.

Jeff smacked the fence with his open palm before turning to Elizabeth. "I was hoping she wouldn't be competing tonight." Elizabeth looked at who he was talking about. She was a short woman, very tiny with short hair placed in pick tails that didn't even hit her shoulders. She was wearing a sports bra and a pair of tight jean pants with a belt that had a buckle the size of Elizabeth's fist.

When the woman mounted the bull, Elizabeth heard Jeff swear. She looked up at him to see him pointing to the woman now riding the bull with an ease that amazed Elizabeth.

"That's Tracy. She's one of the best—after me that is." He added when Elizabeth frowned. "She's one of the only one's who could possibly beat me, but don't you worry, she won't be beating me tonight."

Elizabeth smiled up at him, stroked his arm again. "I should hope not. I want the best teaching me how to ride that bull and it would defiantly be a lot better to have these strong arms teaching me."

Jeff smiled and placed his hand on her hip, bringing her a little closer to him.

And that was how Jason walked in and saw them.

Elizabeth's head was thrown back, laughing at something Jeff had said. Jason could tell that the laugh was forced, letting him know that Elizabeth was simply laughing to keep the mans attention on her.

When she placed her hand on Jeff's chest, Jason had to hold himself back from walking right over there and getting Elizabeth away from the other man.

But it wasn't danger that made him want to act that rash. It was another feeling that caused the urge.

Possessiveness.


End file.
